


The New Path

by Dr_Floofers



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Eventual Smut, F/M, I didn't mean to delete this, I'm terrible, Porn With Plot, enjoy cass chasing butterflies and laser lights, isn't that all I write?, let's see if I can get everything back to how it was..., oopsie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-06
Updated: 2016-10-22
Packaged: 2018-08-19 23:25:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 22
Words: 42,337
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8228315
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dr_Floofers/pseuds/Dr_Floofers
Summary: Forced to work for Hydra for years, you've done your fair share of human experimentation. One fateful evening, the Avengers storm the compound, and you disarm the alarms before freeing your most successful creation: a young woman named Cass, nickname Lioness, who you just so happened to have befriended. After making a run for it, you have to readjust to society and every day life. You've escaped Hydra (or so it seems), but what about the Avengers and SHIELD?





	1. Prologue - The Escape

**Author's Note:**

> Hooray for this garbage! (For real, it took me so long to come up with something... *cries in shame*) I really really hope y'all like it. Cass is back! And you're a super smart doctor! And you steal a quinjet, hooray! I've been wanting to do a Tony fic too, so...here. *shoves my garbage towards you*
> 
> I didn't mean to delete this, so here! Have this trash back!

Sirens blared out over the intercom system, making your ears ring and your head ache as you ran down the hall as quickly as you could while wearing heels. You ducked around a corner and kicked your shoes off as bullets thudded into the corner of the wall where you had just been.

  
"Doctor! Surrender now, or we will shoot to kill!"

  
You dashed off again, the tile floors slippery under your stockinged feet. The men chasing you were highly trained agents and excellent marksmen. They were cruel and had little to no regard for human life. If they caught you, you had no doubt that they would make good on their promise.

  
But you were done with Hydra. For five years you had been working for them, staying out of sheer terror. They had forced you to stay, under pain of death, as well as the deaths of your family and friends. Undercover agents had kept tabs on your loved ones, tracking their every move, but you had to get out.

  
You slid around another corner and gasped as you skidded to a stop. Five more men blocked your path, M4s raised and ready to fire, should they so decide they wanted to kill you. Knowing that trying to get past them would be a death sentence, you sank to your knees, hands behind your head.

  
"Gotcha, you dumb bitch!" Your pursuers had caught up with you and one of them grabbed you by your hair, wrenching you up to your feet.

  
"Joe, please!" You winced, tears in your eyes from fear and pain. You recognized the voice of the man holding you. He had seemed a decent enough man, for a Hydra goon at least. You had even had lunch with him a few times before. "The Avengers are storming the compound! We don't have time for this!"

  
"Oh, I know they are, but you helped. Didn't you?" Joe motioned for the others to follow him as he drug you down the hallway, towards the designated panic room that had been created in the event of such an emergency.

  
"No, I didn't-" You didn't get to finish your sentence, his hand coming across your face in a ringing blow.

  
"Bullshit! You shut down the alarm system and 'accidentally forgot' to reactivate the compound's barriers." He yanked you into the room and the last gunman inside slammed the door shut. "I'm not sure if I should kill you now or wait for the Avengers to find us. Then, I can kill you in front of them. They do hate to let hostages die."

  
You laughed, bitterly. "Oh, I wouldn't be worrying about them if I were you. There's something much, much worse coming..."

  
"Yeah?" He held you by the throat, forcing you to look up into his cold green eyes. "Like what?"

  
"I let her out," you whispered, a harsh smile tugging up your lips. "She's coming for you." You knew he would understand.

  
Joe's eyes widened, his face draining of color. "You did what?!" He shoved you into the floor and kicked you away from him before striding towards the heavy wooden table that was in the room. "Johnson, Rich, help me move this! Our doctor friend here let out her little pet!"

  
"Holy shit, are you serious?!" Johnson stared in terrified awe, then he and Rich moved over to help slide the desk over. They grunted as they drug it along the floor, the table legs scraping loudly. It was jammed up against the door, and then they went to grab a bookshelf.

  
"You do realize how stupid that was, right?" Joe glanced over you as the few books that had been on the shelf fell to the floor. "What makes you think she won't kill you too?"

  
"I don't care if she does or not," you shrugged. "I'm just happy to know that she'll rip you and your boys apart with her bare hands." No one else knew that you had made friends with the experiment. Lioness, was her nickname, but you used her real name in private. When the Avengers had breached the compound's walls, you had set her free before the alarm system could be rebooted.

  
"Remind me to kill you later," Joe hissed. "After we kill your whacked out lab rat first."

  
"Can she really see in the dark?" One of the other men spoke up, his voice timid. He was new to Hydra, and the whole ordeal had him on edge.

  
"That's bullshit," Rich scoffed. "No person can see in the dark."

  
"She's not just an ordinary person," you corrected casually. "The Lioness has undergone multiple experiments and physical augmentations. Her eyesight is like that of a cat's only...much more enhanced. So yes, she can see in the dark."

  
"How about you shut your dick holster before my boys and I fill it?" Joe growled as he glared at you before returning his eyes to the door.

  
Minutes crawled by. Anxious anticipation was building by the second, but it wasn't because of the muffled explosions and gunfire occurring outside of the building. Everyone jumped, including you, when something creaked in the ducts above the ceiling. The gunmen whirled around, opening fire and filling the ceiling with holes. You covered your ears, the shots loud and echoing in the bare room.

  
Finally, it stopped, and a silly grin spread across Joe's face as he lowered his rifle. The men began to remove their empty magazines.

  
"I bet that got rid of her," Joe crowed proudly.

  
You had been inching away into a corner, and you smiled to yourself. "I wouldn't bet on it."

  
There was a single tap on the door, and everyone turned back to look at it. A split second later, the heavy steel door, the table, and the bookshelf went flying across the room, crushing your assailants. You lifted your head up from between your knees, and relief washed over you like a welcome rain in the dry season.

  
Cassidy, your best friend, also known as Lioness, stood above you, offering her hand. You took it and she hauled you up to your feet.

  
"They didn't hurt you, did they?" Her pupils were black slits as she gave you a quick once over.

  
"No," you shook your head. "One of them got a little rough with me, but it was nothing bad."

  
Her fingertips tapped the cheek Joe had slapped and you winced. There would definitely be a bruise there, if there wasn't one starting already.

  
"Which one did this?" Her voice was a soft drawl, and she asked with such sincerity that you felt guilty for doing all the things you had done to her in the past few years.

  
"Him," your finger pointed to Joe, whose lower half was crushed under the heavy table.

  
Cass moved over to him, her bare feet perfectly silent. She picked her way gracefully through the mess she had made and knelt down beside Joe, staring down at him. He tried to grab for his gun, but she casually knocked the weapon away.

  
"You hit my friend," she stated plainly, as if observing what color the sky happened to be that day.

  
"Your-your friend...?" Joe coughed as he stared up at her, a trickle of blood coming from his mouth. Something, or a few things, was probably crushed inside of him.

  
"I don't stutter, you son of a bitch." She reached out and grasped him by the throat, pulling his head up. Her cattish eyes bore into his, and she gave him a toothy smile, her rather pointed canines glinting before she grasped his head in both hands, gave a sharp twist, and yanked, literally ripping his head off.

  
"Oh Jesus, Cass!" You gagged and looked away. "Again with the head thing! I thought we talked about you stopping this."

  
"I've not done it as much, but this jackass had it coming." She let the head drop, as if it was nothing more than a sack of potatoes. "Come on, let's get out of here. I've got an idea." She led you down the hall and out of the building, the two of you sticking to the shadows as you ran.

  
"The Avengers brought their own ride," she told you as she pulled you along. Most of the fighting outside had died down, but there was commotion in the other buildings, and you knew that they were being cleared out.

  
"You're going to steal their jet?" You stared at her, nearly stumbling over a dead body. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

  
"I'm not going to steal it, Doctor (Y/N). You are." She gave you a toothy grin as she stopped in front of the collapsed electric fence, the strands still sending up sparks. "Can you jump it?"

  
"You know I can't jump that far," you studied the length of fence. It had to be at least ten feet tall. When it had been standing, at least.

  
"Lucky for you then, because I can." Cass threw you over her shoulder and began to back up.

  
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, what are you doing?" You held onto her white t shirt. "I'm not sure if this is a good idea!"

  
"It's not," she admitted. "But it will work." She took off at a run, holding onto your legs. The fallen fence was approaching, and two feet away, she sprang into the air. You squeezed your eyes shut, and grunted a bit upon impact as her shoulder jabbed into your stomach. You opened your eyes as she took off running again.

  
"We made it...?" You looked back at the fence. "We made it! Holy hell, I can't believe you made that jump!"

  
"You've seen me jump further than that," she laughed, sprinting through the trees as if you weren't still on her shoulder.

  
"Yeah, but you weren't carrying someone. That was amazing! I've never gotten to actually witness you in action like this! I still can't believe all the experiments they made me perform on you worked, this is-"

  
"Doctor, please," she cut you off. "We can continue this discussion another time." She stopped and set you down, the two of you approaching the quinjet together. "I had a general idea of where it landed. I watched them descend. You're still a pretty good pilot, right?"

  
"I'm not shabby," you shrugged modestly.

  
"Good." She winked and then threw open the door at the back of the aircraft. "Because you're going to get us out of here."

  
"That's probably a bad idea," you sighed. "But dying in a crash is better than being stuck with Hydra. I'm surprised they didn't leave someone to guard this thing."

  
"They didn't plan on anyone stealing it, I'm sure. I have a feeling they didn't plan on letting anyone leave here alive." She picked up a lose scrap of paper, and you watched her scribble down a quick note before sticking it onto a thin branch of a nearby tree. "Alright, let's go."

  
It took a moment, but soon you had the quinjet's engines fired up. After some more fiddling around, you lifted the craft up into the air and darted away from the ruined compound. A giddy sensation washed over you. You were free...free of Hydra at last.

  
You had no idea what would happen, if they would try to hunt you down or if someone else would. But that didn't matter. What mattered was that you were free, and so was Cass. How a human lab rat with extreme cat-like eyes and reflexes and super soldier abilities would adapt to every day life, you weren't sure, but you would cross that bridge when you came to it.

  
A thought crossed your mind. "Hey, Cass?"

  
"Hm?" She was studying a book she had found lying on the floor of the quinjet.

  
"What was that note you left back there?"

  
She grinned as she flipped open the book. "An IOU."


	2. Gentlemen Callers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's been a year since your daring escape from Hydra. Cass has become a prominent figure in the New York crime scene, and you've finally eased back into medical work. One morning, you get a visit from two...potentially worrying figures.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Boring chapter is boring. I'm sorry. But gotta have plot development sometime, right?

One year. That's how long it had been since your escape from the Hydra facility where you and Cass had been held. Exactly a year. Money had been hard to come by at first, given that you had been presumed dead and knew Hydra was probably trying to hunt you down, if for nothing more than revenge. And Cass? She didn't exist. Not in any database on the planet, at any rate. Any previous records of her had been wiped out. She also had no fingerprints, thanks to one of the experiments that had been done.

  
After bouncing around from place to place, never staying in one city for too long, you found yourselves in New York. Manhattan to be exact. The city was big enough to lose yourself in, but there still was the matter of money. New York wasn't cheap.

  
So, much to your disdain, Cass resorted to burglary for the first few months. You didn't like it, but there weren't many other options. Soon enough, however, you and Cass found yourselves dealing with the underworld of New York after she had pulled off a rather risky heist and stole some things one of the major gangs had been after. It was dangerous, and each night, she would leave the apartment the two of you shared and disappear into the night. More often than not, she would work for some drug lord as a mercenary, assassinating rivals or stealing something.

  
After months of this, you found yourself becoming quite wealthy. Cass gave you every dollar she earned, since she had never had a bank account or even an actual job before in her life. You invested carefully and were cautious with where you put the money. Most of it was split up between several different banks so that no one would get too suspicious, but it didn't change the fact that you were quickly rising into the ranks of New York's upper echelon of society.

  
Slowly, very slowly, you tried to ease yourself back into society. You cut your hair, bought some glasses with clear glass lenses, got colored theatrical contacts, and used a fake identity, complete with ID cards made by your good friend Cass herself. It took some time, but you were able to get a job at one of the major hospitals. It started out with simple clinicals, but not too long after, you were moved to the ER to do everything from emergency operations after car wrecks or gun shots to stitching up dumb little kids who tried to catch baseballs with their faces. You tried to avoid most conversations about how you had become so skilled with nearly every part of the human body.

  
One morning, around 5 o' clock, you heard the door of the penthouse that you had recently moved into creak open. It clicked shut and you came out of the bedroom to see Cass rushing towards you. She pulled you into one of the bedrooms with her eyes feral and frightened, pupils wide.

  
"I was followed. They're hunting us."

  
"What?" You stared at her for a moment, the relative safety that you had began to feel in your new life sweeping away. "Who? Hydra?"

  
"No, SHIELD. Them and the Avengers, they're hunting us. And honestly, they might be just as bad, if not worse." She glanced towards the front door, eyes narrowing as someone knocked on it. "Please, make them leave."

  
"Alright..." You straightened your scrubs. "Stay here, stay quiet. If I need help, you can come, but otherwise, just stay hidden." You pulled the bedroom door to and walked to the front door as someone knocked on it again, then rang the doorbell. "Coming!" you called.

  
Pausing in front of the door, you took a deep breath, then opened it with as cheerful of a smile as you could muster on your face, given that it was 5 am. Two men stood in front of you, a gorgeous tall blond man with blue eyes, in khaki slacks and a blue button up shirt under his brown leather jacket. A shorter, older looking (but still pretty damn attractive) man with brown hair, a neat goatee, and a tailored suit stood beside him.

  
"Good morning, ma'am," the shorter of the pair smiled at you. "I'm terribly sorry to bother you this early, but we're looking for someone and we believe we saw her enter this building."

  
"Sir, there's quite a few people who live here," you smiled back at him, batting your lashes innocently. "I'm afraid you'll have to be more specific."

  
"Tall young woman," the blond spoke up. "About an inch or so taller than him, short brown hair. We have reason to suspect that she was involved with a robbery the police are currently investigating."

  
"I'm sorry," you smiled apologetically. "I don't have any idea who she could be. I live here alone and I'm at work most of the day, so I usually don't have time for socializing with all my neighbors."

  
The blond's brows furrowed slightly, and he opened his mouth to say something, but his friend cut him off.

  
"So sorry for wasting your time, miss." He handed you a card. "Name's Stark. Tony Stark. Please, if you happen to see this woman, give me a call? We'd appreciate the assistance." He winked at you, then walked away from the door, pulling his friend along with him.

  
You stared after him, then looked down at the card. Tony Stark...Iron Man. And the man that was with him, you recognized him from the news. Sure, he had been wearing a tight red, white, and blue suit, but that was Captain America. Steve Rogers. You swallowed hard and shut the door. Holy shit...

_

"She was lying, Tony, and you know it." Steve glanced over at the shorter man as they stood on the descending elevator.

  
"No...not her! I can hardly believe that someone who skedaddled away from Hydra with a dangerous human experiment would lie! Steve, your skills of observation never fail to impress me." Tony rolled his eyes.

  
"Can it, Stark." Steve crossed his arms. "You don't have to be rude all the time, you know."

  
"I don't?" Tony arched an eyebrow. "That's news to me." They stepped out of the elevator, heading out of the building. "Look, she's not gonna talk. And who can blame her? They'd throw her in the pen for life and probably do God-knows-what to her friend if the feds caught her. Or what if Hydra found her again? That would be much worse." Tony got into his car, Steve climbing into the passenger seat.

  
"I can try to tail the other girl," Steve suggested. "She's the dangerous one, and I have a feeling she's the one who's been behind all these robberies."

  
"Now that, you're probably right on," Tony nodded. "Alright, fine. You handle our cat burglar, since I don't want to get my pretty face ruined if she decides to fight, and I'll handle our good lady doctor. Bonus points because she's hot."

  
"I'm sure your heart's just shattered that you have to take the easier assignment."

  
"It's breaking as we speak, my friend." Tony chuckled. "Now, all I have to do to see her is get in a little accident or something..."

  
"If you need help breaking your arm, just let me know. I'd love to help," Steve offered.


	3. Late Night Call

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a long day at the ER, you're happy to get home and relax. Cass has gotten herself a camera and she takes off to, you assume, dabble in photography. Surprise, surprise, you get called in to stitch up some drunk. Triple surprise, it's someone you've run into once before, and after Clint Barton gets a phone call, it sounds like you might have to patch up more than one super hero before the night is over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tony gets thrown through a window, because of course he would piss Thor off. Don't you just love your job?
> 
> PS. I have a teddy bear named Steve. I wanted to throw him in here.

You came dragging in from your shift. It was late, as usual, about 10 o' clock at night. Much to your surprise, Cass was still there. She was sitting on the floor in front of the couch (you were still working on convincing her that she was allowed on the furniture), with a bit of a mess strewn out around her and a few little booklets opened up on the coffee table in front of her. Her head jerked up when she heard the door open, and she swiped the papers off the table, pushing them under the edge of the couch.

  
"Cass?" You stepped towards her, arching up an eyebrow. "Is something wrong? Whatcha got?"

  
She stared up at you, amber eyes getting that wild, fearful look in them, like a caged animal afraid of getting a beating. "It's nothing."

  
You crouched down in front of her, picking up the cardboard box that had been tossed aside. You studied it, then looked up at her again. "Did you get a camera?"

  
Those eyes were looking at you again, pupils widening slowly, turning into a very pitiful look.

  
"Cassie," you smiled. "It's okay for you to have things, you know. You're allowed to have things."

  
"But I already have Steve..." She ducked her head, running a finger along the rug, tracing the design. The Steve she had referenced was a little blond stuffed bear who was worth about ten bucks. She had kept him hidden for about a week before you saw him.

  
"So?" You laughed and patted her head and sat on the couch instead. "You can have more than one thing. It's fine. May I see your camera please?"

  
Cass got up and padded silently from the living room. She came back with a green and gray camera case and shyly offered it to you. You opened it up and lifted out the DSLR camera.

  
"This is nice. Did you finally decide to find a hobby like I suggested?" You put the camera back, closed the case, and gave it to her.

  
She nodded, "I did. So...it's okay for me to have this?"

  
"Of course it is. You don't belong to Hydra anymore. You're allowed to act like a person." You smiled as she broke out into a grin.

  
"I'm going out then! I'll be back in a while!" She slung the case over her shoulder and took off out the door before you even had a chance to ask where she was going.

  
"Oh, well," you shrugged. "At least if anyone asks where you are, I won't be lying." You got up, threw away the trash from the camera box and went to take a shower.

  
You took your time, washing every inch of your body with care, shampooed your hair twice, and let the hot water soothe your aching body. Being on your feet all day really did take a toll on you, never mind the other physical labor that was sometimes required.

  
After your shower, you dried off, wrapped your towel around you, and ended up crashing in your chair. You turned on the TV and flipped through several channels before settling on Animal Planet. River Monsters was on. Cass loved to watch it, and after watching a few episodes with her, you had grown to like it to. When a commercial break came on, you went to the fridge, found some leftover southwest chicken alfredo Cass had made, heated it up, and took the bowl back to the chair with you.

  
You ate slowly, ignoring the background noise of the commercials. Cass had finally started to come out of the shell Hydra had put her in. She discovered a passion for cooking, which she happened to be wonderful at. You enjoyed watching her sift through different genres of music, finding out what she liked and remembering the things she had listened to long ago, before Hydra had taken her into custody.

  
You encouraged her in her endeavors, but there still was no way for her to get a job. A legal one, at any rate. She still was heavily involved with the underworld, working as a mercenary, a hitman, a smuggler, a bodyguard, anything that any crime lord or corrupt government official or businessman needed. And with her technically not existing, you knew she couldn't have a real career. She had no background, no birth certificate, no social security card...and you had no idea where to even start to try and help her start over.  
So, for the time being and for the lack of no better options, you let her do her thing. She was always careful not to get caught, and with no fingerprints that she could leave behind, it would be extremely hard to catch her anyways unless someone saw her commit a crime. But she hadn't been Hydra's top assassin for no reason. She never got caught.

  
Just as Jeremy Wade started fishing for the river monster he was currently hunting for, your phone rang. You picked it up off the chair arm, noticed the caller ID was from the ER, and groaned.

  
"This is Doctor (L/N)," you answered. You rolled your eyes, silently mimicking the receptionist who was pleading for you to come in, since there had been a bad car wreck that had the other on-duty doctors tied up, and a man had just been brought in, drunk and in need of stitches.

  
"Alright, alright," you sighed. "Give me 25 minutes." You hung up and quickly shoveled the rest of your dinner into your mouth. You turned off the TV, threw your dishes in the sink, and ran to your room to pull on a clean pair of scrubs. You stuffed your feet into your sneakers, threw your hair up into a messy updo to keep it out of your face, then hurried out the door.

  
The traffic was kind for once, but still, you were happy to take a cab and let the driver do all the navigating for you. You paid the man, thanked him, then ran through the ER doors. A nurse met you.

  
"Doctor (L/N), thank you so much for coming," she smiled at you, looking worn out. "The patient is in room 6. He's got several lacerations to the face, most of them minor, but there's one on his cheek that will probably need sutures. There's another on his lower torso as well, but..."

  
"But what?" You took the clipboard from her and got a pen, stuffing it into your breast pocket. You glanced down at the paper and froze when you saw the name.

  
"He's rather drunk, Doctor, and he keeps flirting with anyone who tries to look at his injuries, so I'm not sure as to the extent of the damage."

  
"Of course he is," you sighed, then trudged down the hall and into the exam room. You shut the door and stood there, hands on your hips as the patient grinned at you.

  
"Hey, gorgeous," he slurred, trying to sit up when he saw you. "Long time no see."

  
"Mr. Stark, may I ask what happened to you?" You glanced over at the man with the dark blond hair who sat in a chair.

  
"Tell 'er, Clint, I can't remember." Tony sat up finally. "And please, call me Tony."

  
"Clint Barton," the man in the chair stood up, offering you a handshake. "This idiot got drunk and managed to get himself in a fight. He got tossed through a window."

  
"You should see the other guy," Tony scoffed.

  
"Oh? Is he in another room waiting to get put back together?" You arched up an eyebrow, ignoring his request for you to refer to him by his first name.

  
"No," Tony shook he's head. "He's big as fuck. He's fine."

  
"Thor," Clint explained. "He got in a fight with Thor. You know, Norse god of thunder, another member of the Avengers."

  
"Do the Avengers regularly fight each other often?" You went to Tony and began giving him a quick check over.

  
"You have no idea," the blond laughed.

  
"Mr. Stark, I'm going to need to remove your shirt. Either you let me take it off, or I'm going to cut it off." You looked at him, waiting for his answer.

  
"Take it off," he nodded. "I like t'is shirt..."

  
"Very well then. Arms up." You grabbed the hem of his t shirt and pulled it over his head, trying not to ogle his body. Somehow, you hadn't expected someone who relied on a suit of armor to be a superhero to be in such good shape, but shit, if you weren't wrong about that.

  
You put the bloody shirt in a bag and then scrubbed up, putting on gloves before easing Tony back down. "I'm going to use some lidocaine as a local anesthetic, okay? It'll sting for just a bit, but then it will be numb and I can sew you up. Alright?"

  
Tony stared at you blankly. "What...?"

  
"Yes, it's fine," Clint answered as he stood up and left the room to answer his ringing phone.

  
You began cleaning up Tony's wounds, carefully picked out a few bits of glass. You tried to ignore the heated look he was giving you. For being drunk off his ass, he was still quite a flirt. It probably only made it worse, really.

  
Clint came back into the room. "Hey, I hate to cut and run, but I've gotta go, Tony. Sam called, and apparently Cap's getting his ass handed to him by some chick in an alley. Bruce will come over in a little while."

  
"I want details later, Barton!" Tony cackled with glee. "This is the best day ever, never mind having to get stitches." He laughed a bit more, then yelped as you began injecting lidocaine around the borders of the larger cuts.

  
You focused on your work, hoping to God that the girl fighting Captain America wasn't who you thought it was...but you had a pretty good idea since there weren't exactly too many people in New York who could take on a super soldier and actually be winning.

  
_This is bad_ , you thought to yourself. _This is really bad._

 


	4. Cover's Blown

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While you're stitching up Tony in the ER, Steve, Sam, and Clint are trying to apprehend Cass. It doesn't go very well for them... Later, Tony reveals that he was faking being drunk, and he and Bruce take you with them from the ER, because Hydra has closed in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor trash can kitty... I'm sure he'll be fine, though. When in doubt, throw shit at people. (No, don't do that. That's bad.)

"Is Clint here yet?" Sam grunted as he skidded to a stop on the gravel and dirt that made up the alley. There was some broken glass somewhere in there too. He had a few pieces stuck in him.

  
"He said he'd be on his way!" Steve grabbed Sam and yanked him behind a dumpster for cover as his shield was hurled back at him. "Miss, please! We aren't trying to hurt you! We're here to help!"

  
"Eat a dick, you run-of-the-mill twat!" Cass snarled as she looked around, trying to find a way out. There wasn't one, unless she could get past the two men who were currently blocking her way. The alley was a dead end. She mentally kicked herself for walking into a trap. She picked up the closest thing, a rusted, metal garbage can, and threw it at the dumpster where the men were currently taking shelter.

  
A stray cat had apparently been inside, digging through the trash, and Sam and Steve heard it yowl as the can sailed over their heads.

  
"Clint, come on, we need back up," Steve called over his earpiece, hoping to God that the archer was on his way.

  
"What's wrong, Captain? You aren't going to call her out on her language?" Sam chuckled. This would be kind of funny if he hadn't just been kicked through the air like a soccer ball.

  
"Right now, I want us to make it out of here alive." Steve peeked around the corner of the dumpster. At least she didn't have a gun. "Ma'am, you have to believe me. We're part of the Avengers. We want to help you!"

  
"I know who you are! You and SHIELD are no help to me!" She caught a glimpse of a nose and an eye and flung a dusty whiskey bottle. The partial face disappeared just before the bottle exploded against the corner of the dumpster.

  
"Holy shit!" Sam yelped, ducking to keep more glass from hitting his face. "Dammit, Barton, where are you?!"

  
"Right here!" Clint answered as he let an arrow fly towards the young woman cornered in the alley. His jaw dropped when all the arrow hit was brick.

  
"Uh, Clint? What was that thing about you never missing?" Steve inhaled, got to his feet, grabbing his shield, and then charged. Strategy wasn't working. Negotiation wasn't working. He would have to simply take her into custody by force until they could calm her down. He lowered his head, planning on simply ramming her into the wall to knock some of the fight out of her.

  
Cass watched Steve approach. She ran forwards a few feet, then sprang into the air and going right over his head. There was a metallic clang as he hit the wall full force, and she scaled the dumpster next, dropping down on top of Sam who was getting up to go to Steve's aid.

  
Clint slung his bow over his shoulder and hopped down from his perch, sprinting over to help Sam. He tackled the young woman off of him and they wrestled in the dirt for a moment before she got her feet between their bodies and kicked him off. She jumped up like she had springs in her legs, and Steve barrelled into her, the two of them rolling and tumbling across the ground.

  
When Cass tried to land a hit, the man blocked the blow. Finally, she gave up on logical fighting and began to claw and bite. Her nails were rather long, so she went to work on tearing into his chest as best she could through his t-shirt.

  
"Hey! Ow! Stop it!" Steve tried to grab her hands, only to have her sink her inhumanly sharp teeth into the side of his hand. He yanked it away from her teeth, blood smeared across his skin. He managed to catch her wrists and pinned them down to the ground, spreading her arms wide so that she couldn't reach his arms with her teeth again.

  
"Maybe if you choke me while you're at it, I'll call you 'Daddy'," she sneered, fighting to get her legs loose so that she could knee him in the crotch. In return, he simply pressed his knees down onto her thighs, effectively keeping her held down.

  
Clint snickered as he picked himself up from the heap he had landed in. "Steve, buy that girl dinner and I bet she could show you a good time."

  
"I didn't get it," Steve said as he glanced over at his friends.

  
Sam was limping his way over. "Wow. Really? You didn't get that?" He laughed and shook his head. "Tony and Bruce better be on their way. I think I need a band aid or two."

  
Steve turned his attention to the woman beneath him. "Miss, please, you have to trust me. I know you'd like to kill all of us right now, but you need to calm down. We're helping you."

  
Cass glared up at him, staying silent. This man, this...Steve just so happened to have lowered his head. Just a bit...just enough. She lunged up, quick as a flash, and clamped her teeth down onto the side of his neck.

 

_

 

"Alright, Mr. Stark." You cleaned up Tony and put a bit of ointment on the freshly stitched up wounds. "I would make you wait here a while longer, but I feel comfortable releasing you into Doctor Banner's care."

  
"You probably shouldn't," Bruce admitted as he leaned against the wall. "He annoys the hell out of me."

  
"Very funny, Bruce, but I think we can drop our act now." Tony got to his feet, all traces of inebriation gone. "Miss (Y/N), I'm going to have to ask you to come with us."

  
"Wait, what?" You took a step backwards. "Mr. Stark, I'm afraid I don't know what you mean."

  
"I mean we, the Avengers, are taking you and your thieving friend into protective custody. Assuming, those three idiots were actually able to do their job." He smiled at you. "Please, just come with us, we'll explain more on the way to pick up the others."

  
"You sent people after Cassie?!" You stared at him. "Do you know how bad of an idea that was? Why not just tell me what's going on and explain things to her?"

  
"And give her a chance to run? I don't think so." Tony nodded his head to the door of the exam room. "Tell them you have to go and can't come back for a while. The longer we wait, the more likely it is that we'll arrive to find a war zone."

  
"I'll drive," Bruce stated. "I don't trust your driving."

  
"But I'm not even drunk," Tony rolled his eyes.

  
"So?" Bruce opened the door for you. "After you, doctor."

  
You smiled faintly at him, then went to the front desk. "Jenny, I have to go. A friend of mine is in trouble and she needs my help. I'll be back as soon as I can, alright?"

  
"A-alright, Doctor." She looked up at you, rather perplexed looking, but she said nothing else as you walked down the hall with the two strange men.

  
You followed Bruce and Tony out to a rather plain looking van, one that Cass would usually refer to as a soccer mom van. You climbed into the backseat as Bruce started the engine and Tony buckled himself up.

  
"So, wanna tell me exactly what is going on?" You asked as Bruce pulled out of the parking lot.

  
"Hydra is after you," Tony stated.

  
"I know that. That's not anything new."

  
"Yeah, well, they found you tonight. Where you live, rather."

  
"What?" You stared at the back of his head in shock. "But- but that's impossible! How could they have found us?! We covered our trail-"

  
"They aren't one of the most feared organizations in the world for nothing," Tony glanced back at you. "But they've tracked you down this time. If we hadn't staged our little accident, they would have you right now, doing God only knows what to you. Your friend, the murderous little cat thief? We knew she would be out and about, but she would have gone back eventually, and then they would have taken back their weapon."

  
"Oh, and the mighty Avengers can't stop them and leave two women trying to change their lives alone?"

  
"You know it's not as simple as that," Bruce answered quietly. "Hydra is dangerous. They're smart. We severed one head a year ago, and more sprang up in its place. We can't just barge into every fire fight."

  
"Right now, we need to focus on getting you and your pet assassin into safety. And if that means staying with us, so be it." Tony turned back around in his seat, checking his phone. "Take a left up here, Bruce. The boys should be a few yards down and hopefully they were successful."

  
"But why all the secrecy? Why not just tell me that day you came to our apartment?"

  
"And what if they had bugged the place?" Tony questioned back. "What if they had already found you and had been watching you for a while? We couldn't risk it."

  
Bruce stopped, parking the van in a side street. "That looks like them. Why is Rogers on the ground...? What's he on top of?" You scrambled out of the van, rushing towards the little group as Tony ran after you.

  
Steve was still on top of Cass, his head lowered down so that he could keep her from tearing at his throat with her teeth, which were still firmly fixed in place. She had started working her jaws side to side, trying to chew through his skin.

  
"Get off her, don't hurt her!" You tried to make it to your friend's side, but a man you didn't recognize caught your arm and pulled you away.

  
Clint, the man who had been with Tony earlier, snorted. "Yeah, I don't think that's going to happen easily. Hurting her, I mean."

  
"Jesus, what happened to you boys?" Tony looked him and Sam over. "You look like hell."

  
"Our target there," Sam pointed over to Cass, who was squirming under Steve, "decided to put up a fight."

  
"And you got your asses kicked, didn't you?" You smirked up at him. "I could have told you that would happen."

  
"Please tell her to stop trying to tear my throat out," Steve spoke up, voice muffled by Cass's hair. He had to admit, she smelled very good, even if she was trying to kill him.

  
"Cassie, let him go," you sighed. There was a low growl in response. "Cassidy. Release."

  
She hesitated, then reluctantly opened her mouth and stopped struggling against Steve. "Yes, Doctor. Get off me now. I won't run."

  
Steve groaned as he got to his feet. Being down in the same position for so long had made him a little stiff. "Good. I don't feel like chasing you anymore right now."

  
Cass got to her feet, dusting herself off. "Now, what are you doing with those two clowns?" She looked up at you.

  
"We're taking you into custody," Clint answered. "Hydra's found the two of you. We're going to keep you safe."

  
"Why? So you can lock me away somewhere? You're no better than Hydra," Cass snarled at him, eyes flashing.

  
"Cass, please," you rubbed your forehead, your fatigue from the long day catching up with you. "We don't have many other options right now. Let's just go with them. We can figure all this out later."

  
She glanced around, studying the men, then finally looking back at you. "Alright. I'll comply. For now."

  
"Thank you, sweet baby Jesus," Sam muttered as he limped towards the van. He and Clint piled into the third row of seats. You got into the middle row, followed by Cass. Steve got in next, sandwiching Cass between you and himself. She glared at him. Tony and Bruce got up front, and Tony began flipping through the radio stations to try and find something to listen to.

  
As the van began to move, Steve offered something to Cass. "Here. This is yours. You dropped it earlier...thought you might want it back."

  
She looked down at what he held. It was her camera case. Cautiously, she took it from him, then opened it up to check on everything inside of it. Her little stuffed bear was still inside, smushed from the tight fit amongst the camera and lenses, but okay otherwise. She glanced up at Steve. "Yeah. Thanks."

  
You smiled softly, able to feel her relax a little bit, since she was pressed so close to you. Hopefully this temporary stay with the Avengers would turn out to be kind of fun. Or at the least, there wouldn't be more fighting.

  
"Hell yeah!" Tony cheered as he stumbled upon a hard rock station. Slipknot's song, Heretic Anthem, had just started up. He started singing along, cranking up the volume, and much to your surprise, Cass joined in too.

  
"I hope it won't be this loud for the next couple of months," Clint hollered over the music. "I'm already deaf, but it might get worse!"

 


	5. Settling In

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony gives you and Cass your own rooms, and when he's alone with you, presses for details about the work you did for Hydra. You tell him everything. Later, he takes you to meet the rest of the Avengers, and Sam gets to see just how catlike Cass is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prepare yourselves for laser light time...it's gonna be great.

"Cass- is it alright if I use your nickname?" Tony glanced over at your friend, who was still extremely on edge.

  
"Yeah. Sure." She looked around the hall, watching every little shadow. Even the fiddle leaf fig trees in their modern-looking pots at the end of the hall received a suspicious glare.

  
"Don't worry, the plants won't attack you," Tony chuckled. "But anyways, this can be your room. FRIDAY, open up the door please. Miss Cass here is to be granted complete access of this room."

  
"Yes, Mr. Stark," a woman's voice answered over the intercom and the door to the room slid open.

  
"Go ahead, check it out." Tony flashed her a smile, then glanced at you as Cass carefully crept inside. "Steve is right across the hall from her in case something gets her spooked up. And as for you...follow me."

  
You trailed him down the hallway and into one of the elevators. Once again, he simply spoke to FRIDAY, who you assumed was an AI or a similar program.

  
"I'm worried about being this far away from her," you admitted. "I've always kept a close eye on her."

  
"If it makes you feel better, I can grant you access to the security cameras for that side of the tower," Tony offered.

  
"You'd do that? But you don't even know me, and I worked for Hydra for years."

  
"Yes, I'm sure they offered great benefits as well. Their dental insurance was stupendous, I have no doubt." He rolled his eyes. "Come on, honey, I think we both know that you were just as much a prisoner as your catty friend was."

  
"Maybe not as much of one, but yes, it...it was rather awful," you relented.

  
"So, care to tell me more about her? What exactly did Hydra do?" The elevator doors opened and you followed him once again.

  
"I was the one who created her," you answered. "They wanted to replicate a super soldier like your friend Captain America, but of course, the serum that was used on him could not be found anywhere else. We tried to replicate it, and many of the test subjects died. The few who lived went mad, and we...we had to...put them down."

  
"Jesus Christ..." Tony stared at you as he took you into a spare room, the two of you sitting down at the kitchen counter on the generic bar stools that were already there. "But what about Cass? She seems alright, besides some...general cat-like behavior."

  
"Like I said, I created her. Surgically."

  
"Surgically?"

  
You nodded. "I went in manually and...augmented her. I grafted advanced materials onto her skeletal structures; her bones are virtually unbreakable. I had to careful, of course, because of the dangers of white blood cell necrosis. Protein complexes were injected intramuscularly, increasing the density of muscle tissue and decreasing their recovery time."

  
"Christ, she wasn't awake for all this, right?" Tony was studying you closely, a mixture of intrigue and horrified disgust on is face.

  
"No, of course not. Hydra didn't approve of me anesthetizing her, but I did it anyways. To help with skeletal and muscle tissue growth, I implanted this little pellet with human growth hormones into her thyroid glands. Enhancing her eyesight was a delicate procedure, but I increased the blood flow beneath the rods and cones of her retinas. Her eyesight is...remarkable to say the least."

  
"Is that what gave her those creepy cat eyes? Because those little slanted pupils kinda of give me the creeps when she stares at me."

  
"That was...something else. I also altered her nervous system by changing the bioelectrical nerve transduction. We observed a 300 percent increase in her reflexes, as well as a major boost in intelligence, memory, and creativity."

  
"I don't suppose I could take her with me the next time I'm invited to one of those dumb wine and paint things?" He chuckled at his joke. "So, you literally created a super soldier. Like...rebuilding a car or something?"

  
"Something like that, I suppose." You looked down at your hands. "I was not proud of my work at first. I suppose I'm still not, but I took extra special care of her. She and I had become friends before I started all the operations."

  
"That still doesn't explain the cat eyes. You can't change the subject and try to make me forget about this." Tony shrugged off his jacket and tossed it onto the counter, leaving him in his Pantera t-shirt.

  
"Hydra was...experimenting with splicing human and animal DNA."

  
"Jesus, was that those creepy pig things with human hands we saw at the compound?"

  
"Yes. They kept the failed experiments and...used them as live target practice most of the time. They wanted to achieve something like shape shifting, I think. They didn't give me much information myself."

  
"And your kitty-person friend?"

  
"They wanted something phenomenal. They tried to splice her DNA with a lion's. I...sabotaged the process before it could get too far, because I didn't want to lose her too. Some of the effects had already taken place however, such as the alteration of her eyes and eyesight."

  
"Wow..." Tony leaned back on his stool, crossing his arms over his chest. "That...was an awful lot of science and medical shit and I kind of had a hard time processing everything, but you made a super soldier who is pretty much on par with our Capsicle and also has some abilities of one of the most dangerous big cats on the planet?"

  
"Pretty much," you shrugged.

  
"That is kick ass," he grinned. "And also scary as hell. Do you ever regret doing it?"

  
"Of course I do," you nodded. "I didn't enjoy experimenting on all those people. My work caused many of them to die. I try to find comfort in the fact that I saved at least one of them. I couldn't always protect her, though. Hydra...they decided they wanted to...raise people."

  
Tony arched up his brows. "Raise people?"

  
"They were trying to breed them for specific jobs, like people breed horses and dogs. They wanted to to breed an army. Cass, with her abilities, was their pick to try and start the program with."

  
"So they wanted to raise their own little pack of super soldiers? Or try to anyway? It didn't work, did it?"

  
"No. No, it didn't work. Something with the experiments had left her unable to have children." You smiled. "Also, she killed or maimed a lot of the men they tried to couple her with."

  
Tony laughed. "Somehow, I can see that."

  
"There you have it. I'm not proud of what I did, and I never will be. I'll always feel like a monster for what I did, but I'm trying to do good now."

  
"You didn't have much choice, not with Hydra breathing down your neck," Tony pointed out.

  
"But I still did it." Your smile fell, and you didn't feel like saying anything else.

  
"Well," Tony spoke up, "this is your room. My penthouse is down the hall and a quick flight of stairs up. So if you ever need anything..." He winked at you.

  
"Mr. Stark, are you flirting with me?" You looked up at him.

  
"I'd be an idiot not too," he grinned broadly. "Now, why don't I go introduce you to the rest of the team? You've met Steve, Clint, Sam, and Bruce, but there's still a few others. Come on." He got up and offered you his hand. "Might I escort the fair lady?"

  
"You might," you giggled at him and took his hand, getting to your feet and following him out of the room. "Thank you for all of this, Tony. I just hope Cass doesn't get out of hand and ruin your good graces."

  
"Pfft," he scoffed. "Some of these people need a good ass-kicking. I won't mind if she takes them down a notch or two. Don't tell anyone I said that." He wiggled his eyebrows.

  
You were a silent for a moment, then smiled mischievously, a glint in your eye. "Remind me, I need to find a laser pointer and show you something later..."

  
"Oh? You have my curiosity." He glanced down at you. "What for, pray tell?"

  
"Trust me, it's hilarious. Let's let Cassie get more settled in first, and then I'll show everyone. It'll be great."

  
An elevator ride later, you were in the common room, Tony being the wonderful tour guide he was. "And that over there on your left is Thor, about to get his ass handed to him by your kitty friend."

  
"Nonsense," Thor laughed. "I was simply introducing myself." He reached out a hand to pat Cass on the shoulder.

  
Your eyes widened. "Thor, no! Don't-" You winced as he got flipped over onto the floor, smacking down on his back. "Sorry," you grinned sheepishly.

  
Cass stepped past the god and padded into the kitchen. "Nice to meet you too, Thor." She opened the fridge, digging through its contents.

  
"She doesn't like to be touched," you explained as you went to Thor and offered to help him up.

  
"It's quite alright," he shrugged. "She didn't hurt me. You must be Lady (Y/N). It is wonderful to make your acquaintance." He shook your hand gently, which you were grateful for, since you imagined he could crush your bones with a twitch of his fingers if he wanted to.

  
"And here, we have Agent Natasha Romanov, siblings Wanda and Pietro Maximoff, and Vision. Who I kind of created," Tony pointed to the others.

  
"Hi," you waved. "It's nice to meet all of you."

  
"You'll probably change your mind later," Sam quipped from the kitchen as he got himself a glass of water. He sat it on the counter and then went to the fridge, since Cass had found herself some cold pizza and was chewing silently on it. She eyed his glass, then simply reached out and pushed it towards the edge of the counter.

  
Sam turned around, makings of a sandwich in his hands. He froze. "Oh no. Don't do that."

  
Cass glanced up at him, eyeing him quietly.

  
"Don't you dare," Sam warned. "I'll-" A crash cut him off as she pushed the cup off the counter and onto the floor.

  
"Get your ass kicked again?" She smiled faintly at him, then returned to her pizza.

  
Steve chuckled as he walked between them. "Play nice, you two." He glanced at Cass after searching the fridge. "Oh. There's my leftovers."

  
She shoved the box towards him. "Shit, my bad. You can have it."

  
"Can we share?" He smiled at her, hoping he could start to make things a little more friendly between them after the fight in the alley.

  
You and Tony watched the exchange in the kitchen. You held your breath, silently pleading with your friend to act nice. You wanted so much for her to be able to be as normal of a human as she could be, in spite of her unusual circumstances.

  
"I guess so..." She glanced down at the pizza, then shrugged. "Sure."

  
Steve sat down beside her, and the two of them ate their cold pizza without speaking another word.

  
"Rogers was always pretty good at helping the new kids feel more comfortable," Clint chuckled. "Maybe she won't eat us in our sleep after all."

  
"Don't get your hopes up," Sam huffed as he came back with his sandwich and a new glass of water. "I might rub steak on you so that she'll get you first."

  
"She doesn't eat people," you rolled your eyes. Then, you wiggled your eyebrows. "Not alive at least."

  
"People are too fattening," Cass called from the kitchen. "You bastards would taste gross anyways."


	6. Purple Hair

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony keeps finding excuses for you to patch him up. One day, you have a more serious than usual chat, and you end up admitting you are starting to develop feelings for him. What starts out as a kiss ends up as hiding two runaways from the wrath of the God of Thunder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh no, no Cass in this chapter! Well, her handiwork is here... Sneaky kitty cat. Thor with purple hair though...and a purple beard, cause I bet he washes it lovingly too. Just some kind of fluffy Tony!

"Are you sure you're not just finding ways to get hurt so that you have an excuse to come see me?" You were tending to Tony's cuts and scrapes once again. "What do you even do to yourself?"

  
"Would you believe me if I said there was an accident while I was working on my suit?" Tony grinned at you, wincing just a bit as you cleaned one of the more severe cuts.

  
"No," you glanced up at him. "No, I wouldn't." You focused on your work, carefully swabbing out the wound to make sure there was no dirt or debris trapped inside.

  
"Alright, fine. Pietro and I went outside in an alley and I had him run me over a few times. How's that?"

  
"Now that I would believe." You smiled at him, then grabbed your needle and suturing material. "You know, you could just drop in for a visit like a normal person would."

  
"But then there would be no reason for you to touch me, sweetheart." His eyes were on you, his gaze heated.

  
"Tony..." You didn't look up. You didn't want to see the bedroom eyes you knew he would be giving you. "Look, I thought you and Pepper were a thing. I don't need to intrude on that. In fact, I've been here three months and I haven't seen her. Are you two-"

  
"We're...taking a break. I guess," Tony shrugged. "I don't know, she...well, things weren't that good, and then after Ultron..." He sighed and ran his free hand through his hair. "I have a feeling I won't be hearing from Miss Potts any time soon after that stunt that I pulled."

  
"Hey..." You paused your stitches and placed a hand on his shoulder, making him meet your gaze. "That wasn't your fault. You had good intentions. Don't let that be used against you."

  
"People died because of me," he whispered, a hurt look entering his dark brown eyes. "Humanity could have been wiped out, all because of me."

  
"If I recall the story, you weren't the only one who created Ultron." You continued stitching up the cut on his forearm. "Others were involved. Why are you the only one taking the fall for it all?"

  
"Because it was my idea, dammit!" He snapped, his eyebrows furrowing. "It was all my idea and I should have been more responsible and kept an eye on things!"

  
"Stark, that's enough." You glanced up at him sternly before dropping your eyes back down to your work. "You don't give yourself enough credit. I've only been here a few months, but you're a good man. All the news stories, the tabloids...they don't show who you are. That's just the air you put on."

  
"Oh, but you know who I really am?" He arched an eyebrow at you.

  
"Tony, in case you've forgotten, I have worked and lived on the dodge with one of the deadliest assassins on the planet. I think I can read people a little bit by now." You smiled at him and then sat on the edge of the chair he was in. "Past this self-destructive, sarcastic, cynical shell you put up, you're a good man. A very good man. You took Cass and I in and have treated us very well, even though we probably deserve to be locked away where the sun could never reach us again."

  
"That's not true and you know it," he protested. "You were forced to work for Hydra and Cass...Christ, she sure didn't have much free choice."

  
"Stop changing the subject," you placed a finger against his lips. "The fact is, you're a wonderful person, and I..." You paused to keep the rest of your sentence from coming out.

  
"You what?" Tony arched up a brow, a smile pulling at his lips.

  
"I, uh..." You coughed nervously. "I like you, Tony..."

  
"Really now?" He grinned and slowly brought up his free arm, wrapping it around your waist. "Well, that's kind of funny that you should mention that. See, I was thinking about throwing a party, just a little sort of thing, in a few months. Kinda like an expo, but to my more powerful friends that can support the technology I create. And with more drinking and music and fun."

  
"And what about this...not-a-party party?" You tried to ignore the fact that he was pulling you closer until you were straddling his lap.

  
"You're invited, of course," he shrugged. "But see, sweetheart, I need a date. I was thinking that you and I could make a rather dashing couple."

  
"You want me, the mad doctor/scientist of Hydra, to be your date to one of your fancy-schmancy get-togethers?"

  
"Why not?" He winked. "Who better to go with the evil billionaire who created a death robot? Please?"

  
"Alright, Tony. I'll be your date." You rolled your eyes at him. "But only because you put it that way."

  
"Good." He leaned in, closing the gap between you until he was just inches away. "I was also hoping that I might get a little something extra for being such a good patient."

  
"You haven't even let me finish your stitches," you whispered, a hand planted on his chest. You could feel the arc reactor under his t-shirt. You wanted to take his shirt off of him, study the amazing little device that kept him alive, trace the metal with your fingertips.

  
"I was thinking something like a pre-reward," he whispered back, nuzzling his nose against yours. "Kinda like a preview of what's to come. Little kids get stickers and candy for being good at the doctor, you know."

  
"I'm fresh out of smiley face stickers," you fought back a smile.

  
"Ah, damn." He frowned, looking disappointed.

  
"What about...a kiss?" You offered. "Would that take the place of a sticker?"

  
"Well..." He huffed a sigh. "I suppose it could do for now, but I call dibs on the stickers as soon as you get more in."

  
"Deal," you giggled and leaned in.

  
Tony met you, lips pressing gently against yours. You could taste the bitter hint of his coffee. He drank it black. His hand slid up your back, his fingers lacing into your hair as he tilted his head to deepen the kiss. His other hand landed on your lower back.

  
"If you get blood on me," you murmured against his lips, "I'm going to slap you."

  
"Kinky," he mumbled, then continued to kiss you, not too put off by your threat.

  
"Doc! You have to-holy shit, my bad!" Clint turned around, offering a little privacy. "Whoa, hey, slow down-" He went tumbling across the floor, landing in a heap of limbs with the person who had just plowed into him: Pietro.

  
"Watch where you're standing, old man," Pietro huffed.

  
"What are you two clowns doing in here?" Tony glared at them.

  
"Look, you have to hide us! Or something!" Clint kicked Pietro away and scrambled up, running over to cram himself beneath your desk. "Thor's after us right now, okay?"

  
"He's pissed," Pietro added, blue eyes wide as he searched for a hiding place.

  
"Why? What happened?" You got yourself off of Tony, quickly finishing his stitches so that you would have room in case you ended up needing to put Clint and Pietro back together.

  
"Well..." Clint coughed from under your desk.

  
"We kind of pulled a prank on him," Pietro admitted, looking down as he scuffed his foot on the floor like a little boy caught in the cookie jar.

  
"What did you do?" Tony groaned, facepalming.

  
"Hey, Cass helped us," Clint piped up, peeping over the edge of the desk. "We...uh...replaced most of his shampoo with purple hair dye...and then she ate the icing out of his stash of Oreos and replaced it with toothpaste."

  
"He doesn't know about the Oreos yet," Pietro snickered. He darted across the room in a blur, hiding behind a cabinet as the door was thrown open.

  
You and Tony stared, slack-jawed, as Thor stood in the door way, still wet from his shower with his towel around his waist, water droplets rolling down his body. It would have been enough to make your heart stop for a bit, if it wasn't for...

  
"Thor." You were unsure of how to approach this. "You...did something different with your hair?"

  
It was purple. Most definitely purple, no denying that. Like "dyed-baby-chickens-at-Easter" purple.

  
"Thunder Thighs, my man!" Tony fought a grin. "You've, uh, got a little something up there..." He patted his own hair.

  
"I am aware of that," Thor growled, his face looking as dark as the thunder clouds he could summon. "Tell me, Anthony, Lady (Y/N), have either of you seen Brother Barton or little Pietro? I would like to discuss this with them."

  
You paused, wondering if you should give them up. Then, you decided against it, not wanting to clean up the mess that would be left in your tiny clinic. "I'm afraid I haven't seen them, Thor," you lied smoothly. "I've been working on Tony's arm. Sorry, I hope you get your hair back to normal soon."

  
"Thank you," Thor dipped his head with its very purple head at you. "I shall see you and Anthony later." He turned and walked away, the door swinging shut behind him.  
Tony stared at the door, then glanced at you, and the both of you burst out laughing.

  
"Holy shit! E-even his beard was purple!" Tony howled, clutching his side as he doubled over.

  
"Language, Tony," you grumped, trying to copy Steve's "Captain America" voice. You laughed even harder, and Tony wiped at the tears in his eyes.

  
"St-stop it," he wheezed. "The purple hair was already too much!"

  
"Oh my God," Clint breathed in relief as he crawled out from under your desk and drug himself over to you. "Thank you, thank you, thank you."

  
Pietro zoomed over and hugged you tightly. "Yes, thank you, Miss (Y/N)! He would have murdered us, I'm sure. I'm too pretty to die. Clint's too old."

  
"I'm not even old, you little shit stain!" Clint hollered as Pietro darted off in a flash.

  
"Alright, get out of here," Tony shooed the archer towards the door. "Our lovely doctor friend and I were in the midst of an intellectually-stimulating conversation when you and Roadrunner interrupted us."

  
"Stark, I know what that was stimulating and it definitely wasn't your brain," Barton snickered, then ran for the door before Tony could throw something at him.

  
"Where do you think he's off to?" You glanced over at Tony.

  
"Probably going to go cram himself in a vent and jack off to a strand of Natasha's hair that he stole from her brush."

  
You choked for a second, then coughed and began to laugh. "Well, I wasn't expecting that."

  
"Say, where to you think our little kitty Cass has gotten off to? It's obvious Thor didn't find her, or he'd be needing the stitches."

  
"That's...a very good question." You pulled off the gloves you were wearing and went to your desk to get your phone. "Oh fuck me, I hope she isn't off getting into trouble somewhere else..."

  
"Let me buy you dinner first," Tony muttered under his breath. He moved as you threw your magnetic paperclip holder at him.


	7. Two Birds, One Cat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cass, wanting to avoid the wrath of purple-haired Thor, decided to remove herself from the tower for a while. She ends up going for a run with Sam and Steve, and she and Sam decide to give the super soldier a taste of his own medicine.
> 
> Back at the tower, Thor has caught Clint, and you have to patch him back up.

"What made you decide to join Rogers and me?" Sam glanced over at Cass who was running along beside him. He and Steve were out for their daily run.

  
"Oh, I just thought it would be good to get out of the tower for a little while," Cass flashed a toothy grin at him.

  
"Who did you get this time?" Sam already had a smile pulling at the corner of his lips. Whatever it was, he knew it would probably be funny. After she had gotten settled in a little more, Cass and Clint had gone in cahoots together, pranking just about everyone in the tower.

  
"Thor." Her amber eyes danced merrily, her pupils black slits against the bright sunlight. "He was too full of himself after that mission he went on last week. I thought a new hairdo might help him out a bit."

  
"Jesus, what did you do?"

  
"Let's just say...he's kind of purple right now."

  
"Oh my God!" Sam laughed, shaking his head as they continued running. He heard another set of footsteps and looked over his shoulder. "Shit, here comes Steve... He's overlapped me so many times... Get ready for it."

  
Steve ran between the two of them. "On your left and your right!" He glanced back with an uncharacteristically smug smile, then kept going.

  
"Well, I don't know about you, but I think our good Captain needs to be knocked down a peg or two." Cass cut her eyes over to Sam, wiggling her eyebrows.

  
"If you have an idea, I'm all for it."

  
"Then wait here and watch." She winked at Sam, then dashed away from his side, legs moving in long, bounding strides.

  
"Shit, she even runs like a cat," Sam muttered to himself before reaching into his pocket to find his phone. He had to record this for the others. He got his camera going, catching Cass in action as she closed in on Steve.

  
"Hey, old man! Getting slow in your golden years?"

  
Steve's head whipped around, and he had to admit, he was a little shocked to see Cass coming up on his heels.

  
"How'd you make it up here?" He asked before looking forwards again.

  
"Oh, I thought I'd pick up the pace a little." Cass surged forwards, now elbow to elbow with Steve and matching his pace. He glanced over at her, and with a grin, she pulled ahead and left him in the dust.

  
"Oh, come on!" Steve hollered after her! "Now you're just showing off!"

  
"Whooo, she got him!" Sam cheered from behind, still filming. "Ain't so fast now, are you, Rogers? Fuck, there she goes again!" Cass whipped past him and ran straight for Steve, bearing down on him.

  
"Cass?" Steve cast a quick look backwards. "Hey, slow down!" He pushed himself to run as fast as he could since it was obvious slowing down wasn't part of her plan.

  
Cass pounced on Steve, tackling him off of the running path and onto the grass. They rolled over and over in a heap of limbs. Cass ended up on top, and she sat up, straddling his abdomen with a grin.

  
"Gotcha." Her sides heaved a bit, her hands resting on his chest. "And Sam was recording, so we can show the others that you got beat at your own game, Mr. On Your Left."

  
"That was great," Sam chuckled breathlessly as he caught up. He had stopped recording by now.

  
"That was cheating," Steve huffed. His face was red, but he hoped that they would assume it was from the run. He rather liked Cass sitting on top of him like this, and watching her chest heave made his mind start to wander places that it hadn't gone in a rather long time.

  
Sam answered his phone as it began to ring. "Hello? Hey, Doc! Have I seen Cass? Yeah, she's out here with us. Oh, remember me telling you about how Steve does that dumb "on your left" thing every time he passes me? This time, she passed him! Ha, it was great!"

  
Cass glanced over at Sam. "Shit, they're looking for me. If Thor asks, I hopped a train to Canada." She scrambled off Steve and was attempting to run to a grove of trees to hide, but a little swarm of butterflies caught her attention.

  
"Yeah, yeah, we'll keep an eye on her and bring her back with us," Sam promised. "We'll see you guys later!" He hung up, sliding his phone back into his pocket. He crouched down beside Steve, who was sitting in the grass and taking a break. They watched Cass in silence for a moment, chuckling as she chased the butterflies.

  
"Do you think we might could start taking her on missions with us?" Steve kept his eyes on the young woman as she leapt up an impressive amount into the air, clapping a butterfly into her hands.

  
"Got some butterflies you need to catch for SHIELD?" Sam grinned. "We could talk it over with the others and Doctor (Y/N), but that might not be a bad idea. From what we've seen in just our everyday workouts, I think she could be a big help."

  
"Me too," Steve nodded. He let out a laugh as Cass shoved the butterfly into her mouth, then spat it back out with a shake of her head.

  
Sam glanced down at his friend, noticing the way he was watching Cass. He cleared his throat a bit. "She's cute, huh? You know, now that she doesn't threaten to murder or dismember us on a routine basis."

  
"She never threatened me," Steve glanced up at Sam. "We had our scrap in the alley months ago, and that was that. Maybe she just didn't like the rest of you."

  
"You're avoiding the question." Sam sat down next to him on the ground.

  
"Yes, she's cute," Steve nodded finally.

  
"I think you like her."

  
"Don't, Sam."

  
"Why not? Come on, man... If anyone has ever deserved to be happy, it's you, man. You've done a lot for other people. I think it's time you had something nice too."

  
"Sam, I-" Steve frowned, plucking at blades of grass and twisting them between his fingers. "Look, I don't even know if she- if she would-"

  
"Feel the same way?" Sam shrugged. "You could ask her."

  
Steve turned his head, staring at Sam. "You have no idea how much I cannot do that."

  
"Steve!" Cass came running towards them, something in her hand. She plopped down in the grass, long legs splayed out in front of her. She held the object out towards Steve. "Here, it's for you!"

  
Steve opened his hands and tried not to jump in surprise when a slightly mauled bird was deposited into his palms. Its feathers were all ruffled and it let out a little chirp. He glanced up at Cass, "Thank you very much, but...I don't really have a place to keep a bird."

  
"You're not supposed to keep it. It's food."

  
"Oh." Steve glanced over at Sam, not quite sure how to handle this.

  
"Cass...we, uh, we don't like to eat live things," Sam explained with a smile.

  
"Would you rather me kill it first?" She offered.

  
"No!" Steve shook his head. "No, that's fine. Well, see, we don't eat raw things either. How about we take this bird and turn him loose? There's plenty of food at the tower if you're hungry." Steve got to his feet and Cass followed along as he went back to the trees. He opened up his hands and the bird sat still for a moment, then flitted off to a branch.

  
"Can we go back now?" Sam called. "I want a shower! Super soldiers might not have body odor, but I'm just a regular dude!"

  
"Yeah! I wanna see Thor's purple hair!" Cass caught Steve's hand, tugging him along. "Come on, come on, hurry up! It'll be great!" They reached Sam and the three of them walked together.

_

Thor had found Clint. Now, you had the man sitting in your work room, having him press an ice pack to his nose after you had put it back into place.

  
"Now," you straightened up, hands on your hips. "What have we learned from this little experience?"

  
"That I should stay hidden for longer next time?" Clint grinned, one eye already swelling shut.

  
"Not quite." You shook your head. "Try 'I should stop pranking people that can break my face'. That's a good idea."

  
"It was mostly Cass's idea," Clint protested as he got to his feet.

  
"And I will get on to her as soon as she shows back up," you promised as you shooed him towards the door.

  
Wanda was waiting there, and she peered around the doorway. "Steve, Sam, and Cass are back. Tony said you would want to know when they got here."

  
"Oh, good." You wiped your hands off on your jeans. "Where are they?"

  
"They're all getting showers after their run, but I imagine they'll go to the common room later."

  
"Alright. Thank you, Wanda." You smiled at the young woman, then went to clean up the little mess you had made while tending to Clint.

  
"You're not going to get too mad at her, are you?" Tony was leaning in the doorway now, thumbs hooked casually into the belt loops of his jeans. "Cause, be serious, Thor with purple hair is fuckin' hilarious."

  
"It is pretty funny," you admitted. "I'm not even actually mad her, I just need to do something to make poor Thor feel a little better. He's been hiding for most of the day." You washed your hands in the little sink, then approached Tony.

  
"No need to rush things, babe. They'll stick around in the common room for a little while, I'm sure." Tony stepped towards you, pushing the door shut with his foot.

  
"Oh? Was there something you needed? You didn't fall down more stairs, did you?" You smiled coyly up at him as he backed you up against the wall.

  
"No, but I could. It'd be worth it to have you feeling me up again." He grinned as he placed a hand on either side of your head, keeping you blocked in against the wall.

  
"You don't have to be injured for me to do that. I think I could manage to get handsy with you anytime," you offered with a bat of your lashes, sliding a hand down his chest to make your point.

  
"I don't even know if we're technically a couple and you're already getting freaky on me." Tony shook his head a bit, then leaned down, kissing you softly.

"I assumed you of all people wouldn't have a problem with that," you whispered as he moved his hands to your waist, pulling you close.

  
"I've got news for you," he murmured into your ear, lips grazing the shell of it. "I don't." He chuckled, then pulled back. "Come on, why don't go see if our kitty is in the common room now."

  
"You're an ass, Tony." You followed him out of the room and down the hallways until you reached the common room. You paused, a smile on your lips as you took in the scene in front of you.

  
Steve was sitting on the couch, in clean jeans and a white t-shirt with a book in his hands. Cass was curled up into an impossibly tiny human ball beside him, head in his lap as she dozed. Sam was sitting on the other end, Natasha sitting on the couch arm. There was a rather noticeable noise, like a small motor somewhere.

  
You arched up a brow. "What's that noise?" You had feeling you knew, but it had been so long since you had heard it that you wanted to make sure you were right.

  
Steve simply motioned down at Cass. "She's purring."

  
"Steve, you have no idea how kinky the idea of a human-cat for a girlfriend is," Clint chuckled.

  
"Barton, you're kind of ruining the moment," Natasha glanced over at him. "Do you need the other eye to get busted too?"

  
"I'm just saying," Clint shrugged.

  
"Stop talking," Thor growled, sitting in a chair with a very grumpy look on his face. He was wearing a beanie and had his hair tucked up inside of it. His purple beard was still on display, however.

  
"I still can't believe you people always act like this," Vision shook his head where he was sitting. Wanda was in his lap, leaning back against his chest.

  
"Wait until we play Monopoly one night," Tony snickered. "It'll turn into a full on brawl."

"That's why I don't play with you anymore," Bruce interjected quietly.

  
"Uh, hey, (Y/N)," Steve looked up at you, lowering his book for a moment.

  
"What's up, Steve?" You went to the kitchen, digging around for a snack. It had been a while since breakfast.

  
"Cassie brought me, a...present earlier after we had finished our run. It was a bird. I was hoping you knew why."

  
"Aw, Steve!" You looked back at him before continuing your refrigerator raid. "That means she likes you. I still haven't been able to fully convince her that most people don't really want dead or injured animals as gifts. We're working on it, but yeah. It was actually a present."

  
"Oh. She...really is a lot like a cat." Steve stared at you for a moment, then glanced down at Cass, who was still snoozing away. He smiled, then gently ran his fingers through her mane of chestnut curls. She pressed her head into his hand, the purring growing louder.

  
"Like I said, I managed to get the majority of the process stopped, but some of it still took effect. It took me months to get her to act mostly like a normal person again," you shrugged. You had told the Avengers about the experiments.

  
Steve sat his book down, ignoring the grin Sam was giving him as he leaned his head back on the couch, hand still in Cass's hair.

  
"Hey," Pietro called to you. "Didn't you mention something about a laser light one time?"

  
You took a bite of your sandwich, a smile growing. "Yeah, I did. Don't worry, I haven't forgotten."

  
"A laser light?" Bruce glanced up at you. "That...I would actually like to see."


	8. Get Your Mind Off Things

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a few more months of being with the Avengers, Cass has gone on her first mission with some of them. You're worried sick, but Tony has an idea to distract you and soothe your fears.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *A wild Tony smut appears* This is what I do. Yee haw.
> 
> Headcanon: Tony uses all sorts of silly little pet names.
> 
> PS. If I did Cass/Steve smut later on...would y'all actually want to read it? Or no? Would that be awkward? Would it be better to just hint at it?

"Babe, come on," Tony was sprawled out on the couch in his penthouse, watching you pace the floor in front of the balcony, the movie you were supposed to be watching nothing more than background noise. "I'm sure they're fine."

"Tony," you turned to look at him. "Cass has never been on a mission with other people. And this is dangerous! What if- what if something goes wrong?" You fished your phone out of your pocket.

"Daisy doll, look, I'm sure everything is going alright. They can't answer their phones right now anyways." He propped himself up on his elbow, arc reactor glowing against his bare chest. "I bet anything that she'll let you know as soon as everyone is back on the quinjet."

"You really think so?" You walked back to him, placing your phone down on the coffee table before sitting down on the edge of the couch.

  
"Don't worry so much, honeybee." He twisted over partially, sliding his hand up your thigh, his fingers slipping under the edge of your shorts. "You'll get stomach ulcers and those little worry wrinkles. I'd rather see laugh lines on you." He leaned up, pressing a kiss to your jaw.

  
"She's my best friend, Tony," you whispered. "I-I feel responsible for turning her into...into what she is. It's my fault and I would feel to blame if anything bad happened to her."

  
"I understand." He moved his hand from your thigh, sliding it up your side, over the curve of your breast, then to the back of your neck. "But she's with Steve, Sam, and Natasha. She'll be safe. Besides," he chuckled, "I think I'd worry more about the terrorists they're clearing out. If her trouncing three of the Avengers in a dirty alley was any preview of what she could do, I'm willing to bet money that she can take care of herself."

  
"She can," you agreed, smiling as Tony nuzzled his nose against yours. "I guess you're right..."

  
"That's my girl," he murmured, lips grazing your cheekbone. "Come on, why don't you let me help you unwind? Get rid of some of this stress you've been carrying around." He shifted his weight to his knees, the couch creaking a bit. His hands slipped down to your waist and he pulled you up, holding you flush against his chest as he kissed you.

  
"Mm, Tony..." You wrapped your arms loosely around his neck, feeling butterflies flitting about in your stomach. You'd made out with him many times in the three months the two of you had been dating, and sure, there had been a few times where you got touchy with each other, but this was more.

  
Tony never pressed anything, which you were surprised about, and that made you feel guilty. You knew he was better than the reputation the media had given him, but still...you had been a little shocked the first time he slipped a hand into your panties. You had been startled and told him no, and he apologized, quickly stopping things right there. The memory made you feel bad again for having let society's view of him make you even dream that he would be anything less than a gentleman.

  
He let himself lean back on the couch, pulling you up until you were straddling his thighs. His fingers were at the hem of your shirt, and he paused, glancing up at you. "You alright with this?"

  
You nodded, and when he pulled your shirt off of you, you couldn't help but feel a little self conscious. Tony pushed your hands away, sitting up and kissing along your collarbone. It had been a while since you had been intimate with someone. Although, your last time had been...well, you hadn't exactly wanted it.

  
One of your superiors in Hydra had paid you a visit in your chambers and made it quite clear what he wanted. You were too scared to say no. Needless to say, it had not been enjoyable.

  
Tony sensed your hesitation and paused, lips on your neck. "If you need me to stop, you just tell me. Alright, honeybee?"

  
"Alright, Tony." You ran your fingers through his wavy hair, offering him a slight smile. He smiled back, then returned to kissing your neck, his goatee tickling your skin. His lips found a particularly sensitive spot under the place where your jawbone began to curve upwards, and he began working on a little purple blotch to leave behind.

  
His hands went to the waistband of your shorts, his fingers working at the button and zipper. You rose up on your knees as he began to slip them down from your hips. You tried to help him get them off, but lost balance and fell back on the cushion.

  
You blushed, a little embarrassed at your blunder, but Tony just laughed as he pulled them of and tossed them to the side.

  
"If you can't laugh when you're having sex," he leaned over you, "then you have the wrong partner."

  
You giggled and didn't try to hide yourself again when he unhooked your bra and let it drop. "Thank you, Tony."

  
"Hey, I'm just doing my job as a boyfriend," he shrugged.

  
"Oh?" You looked up at him, arching an eyebrow. "And what exactly is that job?"

  
"Making you laugh, giving you my jacket even though I'm freezing my own ass off, killing the bugs, buying you tampons if you need me to, and making you scream as you come all over my couch."

  
"You haven't done the last one yet," you teased, a bit of a challenge in your voice as you held his gaze with your own hooded eyes.

  
"I'm about to make good on it, sugar pop." He winked, then lowered his head, lips finding your collarbone again.

  
"Mhmm... You're doing an awful lot of talking and I'm doing no screaminng," you said, your fingers reaching up to go through his hair as he began nuzzling and kissing your breasts. His hands found your panties, and he unceremoniously ripped them off.

  
"You bastard!" You gasped as you swatted at his shoulder.

  
Tony glanced up at you, a devilish look in his eyes as he smirked. "Maybe you should just stop wearing them when I'm around," he suggested.

  
"I'd never be able to get any work done," you rolled your eyes with a smile.

  
"Why would you want to do boring things when I'm around?" He quirked a brow at you, then resumed his attention on your breasts. He caught one nipple between his teeth and pulled lightly at it, growling playfully. You inhaled sharply, eyes glued to him as he kept up his work. His hands were sliding up and down your thighs, fingers ghosting oh-so-gently over your skin.

  
You shivered a bit, a soft whine coming from your throat. He brought his hand up to his mouth and licked the tip of his thumb before lowering it again. His thumb swept down over your clit, then back up. His lips were going back and forth between your breasts and he continued working your clit with his thumb. His thumb paused for a second as he pressed his first two fingers into you. They curled up and straightened inside you, over and over again, each movement gentle

  
Tony's eyes were glued to your face now, watching each little reaction you had or face you made, ready to stop at the first sign of discomfort or nervousness. He slipped his free hand under your hips and lifted you up a bit, his fingers slowly picking up speed.

  
A moan fell from your lips, and you let your head lean back, eyes fluttering shut as sparks of pleasure tingled through your nerves. Tony had to fight to retain his self control, eager to draw more moans from you, but he kept his hand's pace steady, not wanting to overdo things only to regret it later.

  
You sat up, pulling Tony down and kissing him, wanting to feel closer to him. You were moaning eagerly against his mouth now, the pleasure settling in a coil that was winding tighter. His fingers found the spot just a couple of inches from your entrance that made you squirm, and he worked it with his fingertips, stopping every now and again just to tease you.

  
His thumb was still at your clit and he pushed the hood up out of the way, making you squeal from the intense jolt of pleasure now that the pad of his thumb was reaching all of your sensitive clit. You pulled back from the kiss, pressing your head into his chest while you whimpered and panted, eyes glued to his hand and his fingers, slick from being inside you as they pulled out and pushed back in.

  
The sight mesmerized you; you couldn't tear your eyes away. You could feel yourself clenching spastically around his fingers, and the more you tried to control it, the more you found that you couldn't.

  
"Tony..." You looked up at him, eyes wide and a little worried.

  
"It's okay, buttercup," he smiled at you, eyes dark with arousal but still kind. "You're alright, just let it happen."

  
A loud moan forced its way out as the pleasure that had been building reached its peak, washing over you as the tight feeling snapped. Tony pulled his thumb back, but kept pumping his fingers gently, letting you ride out your climax until you were reduced to human putty beneat him.

  
He grinned down at you as he wiped his hand off on his jeans. "Don't you feel much better now? At least less stressed out?"

  
"I do," you laughed breathlessly, reaching out a hand to brush against the bulge that was pressing against his zipper.

  
Tony's breath hitched and his smile faded as he looked intentlly down at you. "You don't have to do anything else if you don't want to. If you're not comfortable-"

  
"Shh..." You pressed a finger to his lips, hushing him as you palmed him through his jeans. A choked noise rumbled in his throat. "You started it, Tony. Why don't you show me what else you can do?"

  
"If you insist..." He pushed your hand away and stood up off the couch, unbuckling his belt and pulling it out of his belt loops before loosening his pants and letting them drop to the floor. He shimmied out of his boxers, kicking them across the room before pouncing on you, covering your face with kisses and nuzzling your neck, making you giggle as his goatee tickled and chafed at your skin.

  
You caught his face in your hands, making him kiss your properly as you bucked your hips towards his, trying to convince him that you were ready.

  
"Hold still," he instructed, hands on your hips. He held your eyes with his own. "Remember, you tell me if you need me to stop. Alright?"

  
"Alright, alright," you groaned, getting a little impatient with him as you felt the head of his cock pressing against your entrance.

  
"Hey, I'm trying to be a gentleman," he chuckled.

  
"You've got your cock partially inside me," you hissed. "Stop dicking around, damn you, Stark!"

  
"Whoo hoo hoo, look at you!" He laughed, then finally eased forwards until he was all the way inside you, his pelvic bone pressing against yours. "I like you being a little fiery."

  
"We'll explore that another time," you whispered, your hands moving to his shoulders as he pulled partially out, then pushed back again, starting at a slow pace, much like he had done with his fingers.

  
"I can't wait." He smiled down at you, bringing a hand up to brush your hair back from your face. He was watching you closely once more, enjoying each little twitch of your brows and parting of your lips. You slid your arms around him, bring your hands up to grip his shoulders, your palms pressing against his shoulder blades.

  
"Harder, Tony," you commanded. "Please. You won't hurt me. I want more, Tony."

  
"Ooh, I like it when you beg," he chuckled. "Your wish is my command, sunflower." He picked up his pace, putting more force behind each thrust, and he felt a little giddy when the sound of flesh against flesh started reaching his ears. He slid his hands under your hips and lifted you up, pushing you until the arm of the couch was under your lower back.

  
"Hey!" You clung to him tighly, not wanting to fall off the couch, but also not giving too much of a damn as the pleasure started to build back up.

  
"Don't worry," he grunted. "I gotcha." He leaned back a bit, allowing the couch arm to change the angle. It was a tighter fit now, and you both groaned. Your fingers dug into his shoulders, and you hooked your right leg over the back of the couch, letting your left one slip off the cushions so that Tony had more room.

  
Tony's hands gripped the couch arm, and he bucked into you earnestly, making you let out a rather loud moan. He lowered his head with a low groan, hips jerking back and snapping forwards again over and over. One hand drifted down, his fingers working your clit over thorougly.

  
"Oh, God, Tony!" Your nails sank into his skin, and he growled as he bent down and bit at your neck in response. You tilted your hips upwards, trying to match his thrusts with a buck of your hips.

  
"Shit, (Y/N)!" His eyes were shut and he chewed on his lower lip, trying to make himself last longer. "Fuuuck..."

  
You cried out as you hit your second peak, inner muscles squeezing at his cock as you came. Tony groaned, pulling you into his chest and holding you close as he tried to pull out before he finished. He got most of the way out, and you could feel his warm come dripping down your thighs as he finished pulling out of you.

  
He let himself drop down on the couch, pulling you on top of him so that you were draped over his body, the two of you sticky with sweat and panting.

  
"We'll get a shower later," he mumbled, eyes shut as he stroked your back, fingers massaging your skin.

  
"Sounds good," you whispered as you snuggled down against him. You traced a fingertip over the metal of his arc reactor, which was very cool in contrast to his warm flesh.

  
"Love you, bunny cakes," you heard him grumble, his arms tightening around you.

  
You stayed still for several moments, smiling as you felt the rise and fall of his chest return to a normal rythym. "I love you too, Tony," you whispered before pressing a kiss to his chest. You dozed off, not hearing your phone begin to buzz on the coffee table.


	9. Wild Cat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cass is on her first mission with some of the Avengers. She gets left to guard the quinjet, much to her dismay. Later, however, things go sour for Clint, Natasha, and Steve, and it's up to Cass to get them out.
> 
> An encounter with an agent she used to know fouls her mood, and when it appears that Steve is badly hurt or dead, she snaps.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor Clint. Poor Steve. Poor Kitty Cass. This is kind of an angsty chapter. And also some bloodshed. Hooray! (The end of the last chapter sorta ties in with the end of this one. The phone call and all that.)

Cass crouched in the snow, watching Steve, Clint, and Natasha via a small drone. Since it was her first actual mission, she got stuck staying with the quinjet and observing. She scowled and plopped down on her butt.

  
"This sucks," she growled, feeling rather grumpy. "I've been on plenty of missions, ones more dangerous than this. Why do I get stuck staying behind?" She sat there for several minutes, arms crossed as she watched the little screen that was receiving feedback from the drone.

  
She could begin to feel snow slowly beginning to make her ass go numb through her bodysuit, but she didn't quite feel like being done with her pouting yet, so she just stayed put. At least it was waterproof.

  
"Shit! I'm hit! They've got me pinned down!" Clint's voice called over the ear piece.

  
"Hang tight, Barton," Natasha ordered. "I'm trying to make my way to you- heavy resistance over here. They called in back up! Cap, can you help out?"

  
"Not right now, Widow," Steve answered. "Heavy machine gun fire's got me a little preoccupied. I'll get out of it and head for Clint as soon as I can."

  
Cass sat up straight, removing her ear piece. "Well, well, well... Looks like the pros could use some help." She grinned and scrambled up to her feet, quickly rigging some trip mines and setting a perimeter around the quinjet. Tony and Bruce had collaborated and, with some vibranium they "borrowed" from Wakanda, had made her a rather nifty pair of gloves inspired by Black Panther's. They had retractable claws, and she had been delighted to have them.

  
Armed with her new claws and her own fighting knife that was strapped to her leg, she took off through the trees and down the hill where they had hidden the quinjet. She would go for Clint first, she decided, since he was closest to the base's boundaries and also wounded.

  
It didn't take long for her to pinpoint his location. The only matter now was getting around the three gunmen who were forcing him to keep his head down. They timed their firing well, alternating back and forth so that they could all reload at different times. There was no way Clint could get an arrow fired off or make a run for it.

  
Cass looked around for a path and settled on the most obvious thing: climbing the building behind them. Her claws proved quite useful in this matter, and she was on the roof, quickly and quietly, in no time. She crawled to the edge of the roof, picked the man closest to her, drew her knife, and jumped.

  
The gunman went down in a heap, and she slit his throat before lunging forwards just as the other two men spun around, opening up in a burst of gunfire. They hit nothing but snow and the building, and she cut another man's throat, using his body as a shield.

  
The third man used up his clip blindly. Only when his gun clicked emptily did he realize his mistake.

  
Cass gave him a toothy smile. "Hey, don't I know you? I think you flew me into Russia one time."

  
"I- I don't remember-" The man froze. "Holy shit, you're- but, but the Lioness was...I thought you were just a myth."

  
"Well, it would appear that you are myth-taken." She yanked the pistol from her human shield's holster and put a bullet in the last man's head. She tucked the pistol into her belt, then jogged over to Clint.

  
"That was pretty fuckin' great," he laughed. "Myth-taken... I've gotta remember that one." He winced as he put weight on his wounded leg. "What are you doing down here?"

  
"Thought y'all could use some help," she drawled as she put an arm around him, keeping him up on his good leg. "I'll help you to the border, but the path to the quinjet should be clear. Think you can make it up there?"

  
"Yeah, yeah, I should be good," he nodded. "Thanks for that. Thought my ass was done for there for a second."

  
"I've got trip mines set up around the quinjet, just FYI."

  
"I can get past them," Clint assured her. "Go help out Nat and Steve. I'll hold down the fort up there on the hill."

  
"See ya in a bit!" Cass let him go, then turned around and ran, feet barely sinking into the snow. "Natasha shouldn't be too much further ahead," she mumbled to herself. A few hundred yards later, she rounded the corner of a hanger to see a good old-fashioned shootout on the runways.

  
Natasha was taking cover behind a bullet-riddled box car. She glanced up when she saw Cass. "Hey! What the fuck are you doing?! Get out of here! I can handle this!"

  
Cass dove behind the box car and arched an eyebrow at her. "If this is your idea of handling a situation, I think you need to rethink things."

  
"You are not in charge on this mission, you understand?" Natasha hissed. "If you keep up this behavior, I'll make sure you never go on another one. You're nothing but a lab rat anyways; we don't have room for hot heads!"

  
"Sweetheart, look," Cass smiled at her. "Why don't you just cover my ass and let me take care of this? After all, I'm nothing but a lab rat. That means I'm expendable, so there should be no harm in charging."

  
"I'm not covering a suicide run," Natasha snapped.

  
"Fine, I'll do it myself. After I draw their attention, go for the quinjet. Clint should be up there by now."

  
"You- you saved Clint...?"

  
"No, a hot head like me would never do that," Cass sneered. She rolled her eyes, then, once there was a breach in gunfire, she bolted out from behind cover, sprinting across the runway and tackling the first Hydra soldier in her path. She made quick work of him with her knife, then pounced onto the next one.

  
Most of the gunmen had been clustered rather close to one another, so it turned into one massive brawl since they didn't want to risk shooting each other to get her. Cass tore into them with knife and claws, kicking some of them away before jumping them.

  
One man finally took a shot at her. She swore as something tugged at her thigh and threw her knife, hitting her attacker in the throat with it. He crumpled to the snow, blood staining the white crimson.

  
Cass drew the pistol she still had and finished off the last few soldiers. She stalked over, snatched up her knife, and used the snow to clean it. Her leg throbbed, and she could feel blood trickling down between her skin and her suit, but she hobbled her way to the main building. That's where Steve should have been.

  
Natasha stood halfway up the hill, watching the young woman in black limp towards the HQ building. She felt a little bad for saying what she had, but there wasn't much she could do about it now. Turning, she finished her climb up the hill to check on Clint.

  
The building was eerily quiet as Cass stepped inside. She slipped off her boots, not wanting to risk making any noise. Besides, blood was starting to pool in the toe of her boot and it was squelching when she walked. She left them on the floor and padded silently down the hall.

  
There were signs of a scuffle all around; smashed office furniture, broken glass, spent shell casings, a few holes in the walls. She stepped over a body and continued tiptoeing along. She peeped around the corner and stopped. Steve was down in a heap in the corner, four Hydra agents moving towards him. One was calling for backup.

  
Cass's blood boiled, and she growled low in her throat. All four of them whipped around.

  
"Lioness? Experiment 17?" One man stepped forwards. "Come on now, don't you remember me?"

  
"Charles." She forced a thin-lipped smile. "Yeah. Yeah, I remember you."

  
"We got it on a few times," Charles explained proudly to the other three men with him. "Remember that weird breeding program Hydra had a year or two ago? She was the main subject and I was one of the few lucky ones she didn't maul. What's wrong, sweetheart? Didja miss me?"

  
"I sure did," Cass watched all four of them closely. Their attention was on her now, and she didn't notice as Steve's hand move just a bit. "I missed my chance to rip your limbs off. Did you forget to tell them they had me restrained that time?"

  
"Maybe so," he shrugged. "But I don't suppose it matters. You finally come to your senses and realize that Hydra is where you belong? That bitch of a scientist still with you? I never liked her."

  
"Funny," she tilted her head. "I was thinking the same thing about you. Now, why don't you boys step away from Captain America then, and you might make it out of here with most of your body parts."

  
"Ooh, you came for the Captain?" Charles glanced back at the man who was still lying still on the floor. "You want to kill him yourself?"

  
Cass stared at him, eyes narrowed.

  
"No? Wait..." He let out a laugh. "Oh, this is rich... This fucked up little experiment has feelings for one of the Avengers. That's pretty great. Why don't you just come here and give yourself up? We won't hurt you too bad. Hydra could still use you, I'm sure. And one of you boys, go finish off her patriotic lover, would you? Don't want her having any reason to escape again."

  
Cass saw red and she plowed into the agent going for Steve first, ripping at his face with her claws, her teeth tearing into his throat. Blood sprayed as she tore through his jugular, and something feral rose up inside her, something she hadn't felt in a long time. She stood between them and Steve, fighting with every bit of strength she had.

  
Charles was the last one, and she savored his screams as her claws punctured his eyelids and plunged into his eye sockets. Blood spilled out over her hand, and she slammed him down against the floor, placing a foot against his throat and bearing down on it while she ripped her hand up, pulling off part of his face.

  
"Cass." Steve lifted his head, trying to sort through his foggy thoughts. A chunk of rubble had hit his head when one of them had shot the roof up in an effort to draw him out of hiding.

  
Cass froze, dropping the lifeless body. She turned around, blood dripping from her hand. More of it stained her face, and lines of crimson ran down her leg from her injured thigh.

  
Steve sat up slowly, noticing the wild look in her eyes. The four men who had cornered him were torn to shreds, blood was splattered all over the floor and walls. He hoped to God he could get her calmed down.

  
"Cassie," he spoke her name softly, carefully easing up onto his knees. "You okay? You're still here with me, right?" He kept his tone gentle as he picked up his shield and got to his feet.

  
"Steve..." She looked up at him, then looked down at her hands. She whimpered, the feral glint leaving her eyes and becoming replaced by a fearful, caged animal look. She stepped towards him. "I thought- I thought you were...I thought they had killed you at first."

  
"No," he smiled. "No, they didn't kill me. I'm alright. Just a bit of a headache, but I'll be fine in an hour or so." He opened up his arms. "Come here. Everything is fine."

  
Cass obediently went to him, and he hugged her close as she pressed her head into his chest, clinging to the front of his suit.

  
"You didn't move," she whispered. "If-if you were dead..." She pulled back from his arms, wiping at her face with a huff. "I killed them, Steve... I killed all of them." She frowned, eyes hard. "Bastards. I don't regret it." She glanced back at Steve after peeking down the hallway. "Got what we came for?"

  
"I do." He held up a flash drive. "I can't believe we risked our butts just for this rinky dink thing."

  
"It better not just be one of Tony's sex tapes," Cass joked, grinning as Steve looked down at the flash drive with an appalled expression. "They'll be sending in more forces soon, I imagine. Let's get out of here. Nat and Clint should be waiting at the quinjet for us."

  
"Right behind you." Steve followed her out of the building, and they ran across the snow, jumped over the tangled barbed wire that was the compound's fence, then started up the hill.

  
Cass limped along, the pain in her leg growing worse and worse with each step. Other things were beginning to hurt too, and she had a feeling she might have gotten injured more during her tangle with the agents on the runway, then possibly again with Charles and his men. Still, she didn't let it show.

  
They got the quinjet, and Clint and Natasha sighed with relief when they came into the clearing.

  
"Christ, Cass," Clint looked her over. "You look like hell."

  
"I just wanna go home," she muttered, limping her way into the quinjet, leaving bloody left footprints in her wake. She marched right past Natasha and flopped down on the floor of the quinjet.

  
Steve and Clint came in next, shutting the door as Nat went to pilot the jet. Clint glanced at Cass, then Steve, and decided not to ask questions at the moment. He joined Natasha in the cockpit.

  
"How badly are you hurt?" Steve sat down beside Cass, eyeing her left thigh.

  
"It's fine," she answered immediately, staring straight ahead.

  
"Well, we're going to get you cleaned up as soon as we get back to the tower," Steve scolded gently, running a gloved hand through her tousled hair. "That's an order." He put an arm around her, hugging her close.

  
Cass snuggled into his side, shivering as her adrenaline wore off and the cold she had been out in set in. Steve pulled her into his lap, not worrying about the blood. He wrapped his arms around her and rested his chin on her head.

  
A half hour into the flight, Clint came limping out of the cockpit to check on his teammates. Steve glanced up at him, simply arching an eyebrow, not wanting to wake up Cass as she dozed in his arms.

  
"I don't get how you make her act like a little kitten," Clint chuckled with a shake of his head. "Here." He opened up a storage hatch and tossed Steve a blanket. "She's still shaking."

  
"She saved my life," Steve murmured as he draped the blanket over Cass. "If I can do something to make her feel happy for a little while, I'm happy to do it."

  
"Natasha told me she...she said some things to Cass before she went for you. She told me she feels bad about it." Clint sat down on one of the quinjet's seats. "I think she wants to apologize to her later."

  
"After she rests," Steve said. "There were some things said to her by the Hydra agents...she needs some time to relax." He reached for his bag he had brought along and fished out his phone. "(Y/N) wanted to know when we were heading back. She was worried about Cass."

  
He pressed the phone to his ear. After several rings and no answer, he hung up. "Oh well. We'll be back soon."


	10. Bed Rest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You leave a pouting Tony to go check on your injured friend. After feeling assured that she'll be alright, you go back to Tony, where he reveals that it seems there is a traitor somewhere amongst SHIELD.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mostly some fluff, some pouty billionaire, some blushing Steve, and... DUN DUN DUUUNNN! Intrigue!

"Oh, shit..." You were still sprawled out on top of Tony, phone in hand. You squinted against the brightness of the screen, seeing that you had missed a call from Steve. Tony let out a groan as you got up and began pulling on your clothes, minus your panties. You'd have to get another pair later.

  
"Baby, come on..." He rolled over onto his side, pulling the blanket back up over him and opening one bleary eye to look at you. "Don't go..."

  
"I missed Steve's call a few hours ago," you informed him as you got your shirt over your head. "They're back by now, I imagine, and I need to go check on Cass."

  
"Then will you come back and snuggle some more?" He gave you a hopeful grin, his tousled hair giving him an almost boyish look.

  
"Yeah," you smiled and kissed his cheek. "I'll come back and snuggle later." You left his room and went to the elevator, taking it down to the floor where Cass's room was. Wanda and Pietro greeted you as they walked past to the common room.

  
"Lady (Y/N)!" Thor boomed cheerfully. He had just gotten back from a visit to Asgard. "How are you this fine evening?"

  
"I'm wonderful, Thor," you waved at him, trying to avoid one of his rib-crushing hugs, but it didn't quite work. He still hugged you anyways. "Are the others back from their mission?"

  
"Aye," he nodded. "They are. Doctor Banner went to Lady Cass's room after tending to Brother Barton."

  
"Cass?" You stared at him, eyes widening. "Did something happen?"

  
"I believe she was injured," Pietro spoke up from the common room.

  
"I have to go see her!" You pulled away from Thor's hug and ran down the hall to Cass's room. FRIDAY opened it for you, and Steve looked up from where he was leaning against the couch.

  
"Hey, Doc."

  
"How is she, Steve? Is it bad?"

  
"Took a gunshot to the leg, had some bruises and a few cuts. I'm not sure what else. Bruce is in there with her now."

  
"Jesus, I thought Natasha said she would be staying at the quinjet."

  
"She was supposed to," Steve nodded. "But we had more trouble than we anticipated. She saved our hides. Had a run in with a man she knew when she came for me. I think his name was Charles?"

  
"Oh..." You scowled at the name. "I remember him. He was a bastard... He treated she and me very badly. She caught him in secret one day and gave him a beating for something he said to me."

  
"Well, she thought that I was dead and..." Steve ran his fingers through his hair. "I hope I never have to see her get that angry again. She killed them with nothing but her hands and her teeth. Like...like an animal."

  
"She had a relapse?" You glanced up at him. "Christ... That hasn't happened in a long time. She gets that way when she's very angry or upset. Kinda reverts to a feral state. Were you able to calm her down?"

  
"Yes. She responded when I spoke to her."

  
"Good," you smiled in relief. "That's good. She likes you, you know."

  
"I'd hate to be on her bad side," Steve chuckled. "I'm happy to be her friend."

  
"I mean as more than that, Steve," you cocked a brow.

  
"Oh..." His cheeks turned pink and he glanced down at his shoes. "Well...I... If you can keep a secret, I like her too."

  
"Doctor (Y/N)?" Bruce was in the doorway of the bedroom, wiping his hands clean on a wet towel. "You can come see her now if you'd like. You too, Steve. If you want."

  
"Of course!" You tiptoed into the bedroom and crept to the side of Cass's bed. The blankets were still pulled back from her bare body. Your stomach twisted at the sight of the scars that had been left there by the augmentations and experiments. There was a clean bandage wrapped neatly around her left thigh, and a few lines of stitches on her body. An ugly bruise had colored her right rib cage deep shades of blue and purple.

  
"Looks like she got into a knife fight with someone," Bruce pointed to the stitches he had put in. "Some cracked ribs, and the single gunshot to the thigh. Besides that, there's a few bruises and scratches, but from what I read from the reports, it sounds like she faced down quite a few of Hydra's agents."

  
"Well, at least she'll be alright..." You pulled the covers up over her body. You and Bruce were medical professionals and had seen hundreds of naked people, but Steve had turned a lovely shade of red and you decided to save him from further embarrassment.

  
"How soon do you think she'll wake up?" Steve made himself ask a question so that he could try and distract himself from the curvy, lithe body that he had been staring at.

  
"Give her an hour or so," Bruce shrugged. "I gave her some pretty strong sedatives. She was still a bit on edge when you brought her in, and I didn't want (Y/N) to have to stitch up my face."

  
"I'll come check on her later," you promised as you reached out and gently stroked Cass's hair.

  
"I can stay with her," Steve offered. "If you two have something else you need to do, that is."

  
"Tony and I were- taking a nap together," you pulled your hand back. "He was being whiny when I left, so I'd better go back and see him before he starts to pout."

  
"Pouty Tony is one of the worst Tony's," Bruce chuckled. "Alright, I need to go check on Clint again anyways. I already patched up his leg, but knowing him, the idiot will be trying to climb up something again."

  
"Tell FRIDAY if you need me." You patted Steve on the shoulder in thanks, then went to go back to Tony.

  
Steve watched you and Bruce leave, then sat down on the side of the bed, combing his fingers through Cass's silky curls. She shifted, pressing her head ever-so-slightly into his fingertips. He smiled and continued petting her hair as he eased himself down to lie next to her. He shut his eyes and, for a second, almost thought he heard a rusty bit of purring.

_

You made a pit stop at your room, got a quick shower and some clean clothes, then went back to Tony's room. The couch was vacant, so you went to his bedroom. Tony was sitting on the bedspread in some boxers, parts of something he had taken apart strewn out in front of him.

  
"Whatcha working on?" You moved over to stand by his side, watching him tinker with...whatever it was.

  
"Last time I used my suit, one of my gauntlets didn't quite meet my satisfaction level," he explained, tinkering with all the tiny pieces that you were certain you would have lost if you were the one working on it. "How was our Kitty Cass?"

  
"Asleep. Bruce sedated her so he could work on her more safely. Some cracked ribs, gunshot wound, a few stitches." You sighed and ran your fingers through your hair. "I swear, she's gonna give me gray hair."

  
"You'd still be sexy as hell," Tony glanced up at you and winked before returning his attention to his work. "I had FRIDAY read the mission reports to me. Sounds like they were under some pretty heavy fire."

  
"More than what was expected," you nodded. "Somehow, the scouting report missed about 20 odd hostiles in that compound."

  
"Think we have a rat somewhere?" Tony put down his gauntlet as he started to put it back together and looked at you.

  
"I don't know," you shook your head slowly. "We've had a few new agents come in, but none of them are in charge of scouting runs."

  
"Weird... Huh." He sat in silence for a second. "Why don't we keep this hush hush? Just between us two? The others won't blab, I'm sure, but just to be safe. Don't mention anything to Petey the Pirate either."

  
"You mean Fury?" You giggled at the nickname. "Alright, I'll keep it quiet."

  
"At least until I can do some digging," he added. "And, actually, maybe Cass can help out a bit when she's feeling up to it? Do you think we can trust her with this?"

  
"Of course," you affirmed. "She's had to play double agent before, she might be able to help us catch one."

  
"Alright. Well, who better to catch a rat than our own kitty?" Tony smiled, then finished with his gauntlet. He set it aside on the nightstand and pulled you down with him as he flopped back on the bed. "Now. I think you owe me some cuddling."

  
"I think I do," you stroked his jaw with your fingertips, then snuggled into him, resting your head on his chest, tracing over the arc reactor with your pointer finger.

  
"(Y/N)..." He hesitated, his voice faltering.

  
"Yeah, Tony?" You didn't move, just stayed still.  
"I...when I said I loved you earlier... I just wanted you to know, I meant it. It wasn't just a heat-of-the-moment, post-sex feeling."

  
"Tony, I know you wouldn't do that to me." You kissed his cheek, then nestled back down, shutting your eyes. "I love you too. I think you were asleep when I said it back."

  
"Glad we're on the same page," he whispered.


	11. Why Not Pasta?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve has a mini-heart attack when he wakes up and realizes that he has lost Cass. He goes to find her, only to discover that she is making herself pasta. At 3 in the morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is fluff. Fluffy trash and I hate myself for it. (I'm sorry there's so much Cass in this story... I'll get more you and Tony later, I promise. Which means more smut! Hooray! And also regular plot...who knew that was a thing?)

Steve jolted upright on the bed, looking around the dark room. He reached out, feeling the spot were Cass had been asleep next to him. It was empty, the shallow indention she had left was cold to the touch.

  
"Cass?" He switched on the lamp next to the bed and got to his feet, wanting to kick himself for falling asleep. She was no where to be seen, and a sick feeling settled in his stomach. He glanced at the clock. 3 in the morning... It had been around 9 when he had laid down next to her. There was no telling how long she had been gone.  
Steve shoved his feet into his shoes and crept out of her room. The few things she owned that she would normally take with her were still in place. Maybe she hadn't gone far, he told himself.

  
The halls were silent and void of activity as he tiptoed along the tile floors. He paused, sniffing the air as an unfamiliar scent reached his nostrils. He went to the common room and peeked into the kitchen. He sighed in relief as he saw familiar chestnut hair.

  
"Cassie, what are you doing in here?"

  
"I'm hungry," she answered simply as she reached up to open a cabinet, wincing as she lifted her arm.

  
"Here, I can get it." Steve moved to her side and opened the door for her. "What do you need?"

  
"Um..." She stared at the skillet, where she had thin slices of chicken and garlic sauteeing together. "Give me...salt, pepper, crushed red pepper...paprika, chili powder... I think that's it for now."

  
Steve pulled down the spices and set them down on the counter. "There you go. Need me to do anything?"

  
"Mind draining my pasta for me?" She pointed over at the pot with boiling water and multicolored penne pasta.

  
"Sure thing," he smiled and found a colander. A cloud of steam billowed up in his face as he poured the pasta out into the strainer, making him cough a bit.

  
"Pour it away from you next time," Cass giggled.

  
"I'll keep that in mind," he grinned sheepishly as he returned the pasta to the pot and brought it back to the stove. "Okay. Now what?"

  
"Let's see... Heavy cream, I need a can of black beans and a can of corn. Should be some around here somewhere. I jacked some last time we were at the store."

  
"You stole corn and beans?" Steve glanced at her in disapproval. "Cass, come on... You can't do that stuff."

  
"Why not? It's not like there's a law that says I can't or anything."

  
He stared at her for a minute.

  
Cass rolled her eyes. "Alright, fine, there is. But it's dumb and I can do what I want."

  
"True," he admitted, "but you shouldn't. It's illegal to steal things, and it's bad regardless."

  
"Fine, eagle scout." She stuck her tongue out at him. She poured the cream, beans, corn, and chicken in with the pasta. "Mind grabbing me some taco seasoning. Please?"

  
"Only because you said you'd behave," he chuckled and ruffled her hair before grabbing the little packet and handing it to her. "What exactly are you making?"

  
"It's...it's kind of like chicken alfredo, but more of a southwestern flair. I guess." She shrugged her shoulders. "Shit, I don't know. It tastes good and it's not hard to make."

  
"Language," Steve reminded her as he leaned back against the kitchen island to watch her. "Hey, is that one of my shirts?"

  
"Sure is. Stole that too." She gave him a toothy grin, then winked. "I can take it off if you want."

  
Steve turned red and glanced over at the sink. He'd have to find something to distract him from that offer. "No, uh- that's, that's fine. You can wear it. Can I have it back later, though?"

  
"Nope."

  
"Alright, you can have it then," he relented.

  
"I can't take it off anyways thanks to you and Doctor Banner," she huffed. "These stitches and bandages are bullshit."

  
"You were injured," Steve responded. "Also, langauge. Again. Thanks, by the way. For saving our hides. I don't know if any of us have told you thank you yet."

  
"You'll never have to," she shrugged a shoulder as she lifted the lid of the pot and gave it a stir. "If I'm to help the Avengers, I will not give less than I did to Hyrda."

  
"But this time I want you to have a choice." Steve straightened up off the island and took a step towards her, placing a hand on her shoulder. "You're not our tool. You're our teammate."

  
"That's still an odd concept, even though (Y/N) and I have been here nearly a year." Cass turned and looked up at him. "What were you like? Before the whole Captain America thing?"

  
"Me?" He chuckled and shook his head. "I was just...a dumb kid, I guess. Didn't know how to stay away from a fight when it came to things that mattered to me. Never did like bullies." He pointed at the fridge. "Tony put a picture of me he found from a book up there to tease me." He moved over to the picture, studying it almost wistfully.

  
Cass joined him, looking at the picture. "You were cute."

  
"I was a scrawny little punk," Steve laughed. "Sick all the time...I got turned down for the military so many times. Now Bucky? He was the star of everything. Got accepted right away."

  
"Did you get picked on a lot?"

  
"I did," he nodded. "I could never do much about it. I tried to put up a fight, but...when you're a whole head shorter than the people who are picking on you, it's hard."

  
"Well, it's too bad I wasn't around back then." She reached out, touching his forearm hesitantly. "I would've kept the bullies away."

  
"You would have had a tough time fitting in, I think," he glanced down at her. "The way you cuss all the time. And if you had been there...things might have gone a lot differently. What if I never became Captain America? What if I had finished art school and stayed just a twiggy kid forever? You would have been taller than me, you know."

  
"You still would have been you, Steve. You're-" Cass rubbed the back of her neck. It was odd for her to feel awkward. "You're one of the best people I've ever met. Thanks for giving me a chance to get on a new path."

  
"I think you're not giving yourself enough credit. I think you're a wonderful person."

  
"And now I think you're just making up stuff," she laughed as she turned off the stove burner and took the lid off the pot. "You gonna stay in here and help me eat this?"

  
"Why not?" Steve got down two plates and grabbed a couple of forks. "It smells too good to pass up." He started to pull out a stool at the island for her, but she shook her head as she fixed the plates, then took hers and sat down in the floor.

  
"I still don't care much for the whole table thing," she informed him as she took a bite of her food. "You can sit up there."

  
"Nah," he got his own plate and sat down beside her. "I don't mind a new perspective every now and then."

  
They sat together in comfortable silence, cross-legged in the floor as they ate their pasta.

  
"This is really good," Steve finally broke the quiet. "Kind of has a kick to it."

  
"Oh, it does not," Cass scoffed. "You're a weenie."

  
"I'm a Brooklyn kid," he smiled. "I didn't grow up eating hot stuff like you did."

  
"If salsa doesn't make me cry, it ain't any good."

  
"Well, I'll never buy you any then."

  
"Why? What if I want salsa?"

  
"I don't want to make you cry."

  
Cass stared at him, looking unimpressed. "Are you taking lousy flirting tips from Tony or something?"

  
Steve burst out laughing. "No, I'm just telling the truth."

  
"If you want good pick up lines, I might be able to oblige." She sat down her mostly empty plate. "Let me think... Oh! I'm not a meterologist, but I think you'll be getting more than a few inches tonight."

  
It was Steve's turn to stare. "I...I can't say that I really get it."

  
"Jesus, Rogers!" She facepalmed. "It's referring to dick size."

  
"Oh. Oh!" His face turned red. "I- I get it now."

  
"If I wasn't all banged up, you might be."

  
"Might be what?"

  
"Getting it."

  
"Getting what?"

  
Cass let out a groan. "Sex, dammit, Steve! You're hopeless, you know that?"

  
"Hey, I'm not any good at all this flirting stuff," he protested. "I never was the ladies' man. That was always Bucky's role, and now Tony has that job."

  
"Nope, cause he's going steady with (Y/N) now. He better not be flirting if he wants to keep his genitals intact." She cracked her knuckles for emphasis.

  
"Got any more pick up lines?" He got up, picked up the plates, and put them in the sink before sitting down by her again.

  
"Sure." She looked him up and down. "If you've already lost your virginity, can I have the package it came in instead?"

  
He chuckled, cheeks going pink again. "Alright, I got that one. Those might actually work for you, you know."

  
"I'm hoping they do," she winked. "I'm trying my hardest right now."

  
"Wait- you mean...me?" His blue eyes widened.

  
"No, the other gorgeous blond-haired, blue-eyed super soldier that was just sleeping with me a little while ago." She smiled, then it faded. "Steve, look, if you don't want me to hit on you or anything, just let me know now before I get my hopes up."

  
"No!" He shook his head. "No, I do want you to- well, I mean I..." He swallowed thickly and took a deep breath. "I like you, Cass. Quite a bit. You...you make me feel something that I haven't felt in a long time."

  
"All dirty joking aside, I like you too." She glanced down at the hem of the shirt she was wearing, toying with the seam. "It's weird liking someone. I thought I was getting sick at first. It's been a while since I had the choice to like someone."

  
"Lucky me then." Steve smiled, gently cupping her chin in his hand and lifting her face so that he could look her in the eye. Her gaze flickered down to his lips, and he hesitated only a moment before lowering his head.

  
Cass leaned closer, as much as she could without wincing, in order to meet his lips with her own. Steve kissed her sweetly, and it made her heart flip flop. The only kisses she'd ever gotten had been forced, harsh, and very unpleasant. Her hand drifted up to rest on his arm, and she tilted her head just a bit, lips moving gingerly over his.

 

_

 

Sam stumbled groggily down the hall, pulling at his boxers to straighten them out. He had gotten up to go to the bathroom and thought he heard voices. His room wasn't far from the common room, so he decided to check it out. He froze when he peered around the corner.

  
Steve and Cass were sitting in the kitchen floor, with her in his lap as they had what Sam thought was probably the gentlest make out session he had ever seen. He grinned sleepily, then turned around and snuck back to his room. The security cameras would have caught what happened, and he knew Tony would be giving Steve a hard time about it later.

  
"Better get some rest before the roasting starts," he mumbled to himself as he crawled back in bed.


	12. Rude Awakening

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony decides to give Steve and Cass a wake up call after catching them asleep on the couch together. Bad idea.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tony's name spelled backwards is "Y not", and honestly, I think that explains a lot about him as a person.
> 
> ALSO: I've been thinking about doing a Steve/Cass story. (I know I've been saying that, but I really want to.) Would y'all like that? Do you like Cass as a character? Would it be neat to do like a time-travel/modern day mixup, or strictly modern? Do y'all like Cass better as a roguish person? What would you like to see happen? (I really, really appreciate feedback and ideas because I'm a fuckin' nerd.)

"Psst."

  
A hand was on your shoulder, shaking you excitedly.

  
"(Y/N)! Wake up!"

  
"Tony, no," you groaned as you pulled the blankets on his bed over your head. "Go 'way..."

  
"Come on, honey bunch," he cajoled as he pulled the covers away from you. "You'll want to see this, trust me."

  
"This had better be good," you growled as you sat up on the edge of the bed, glaring at him through squinted eyes, a grumpy look on your face.

  
"Oh, it is." Tony smiled at you and then smoothed your hair down with his fingers. "You look great, now let's go!" He grabbed your hand and practically dragged you out of the room, hurrying you along to the elevator.

  
You stood against the wall, glaring at everything on the ride down. Tony, on the other hand, was grinning from ear to rear, a glint in his eyes. When the elevator stopped, he whisked you out the doors and down the hall and all the way to the common room where he stopped and pointed at the couch.

  
After squeezing around Thor, Sam, Clint, and Pietro, you saw what everyone was staring at. Steve and Cass were piled up together on the couch, sleeping soundly. Cass had her arms and legs wrapped tightly around Steve's torso. That was what you affectionately referred to as her "cuddle octopus" mode, which you had experienced a couple of times yourself when the two of you had been on your own and too poor to afford more than one bed.

  
"They look rather content," Vision observed from where he stood across the room with Natasha, Bruce, and Wanda.

  
"Yes," Wanda agreed. "They do. Why don't we leave them alone and let them rest? They deserve a few moments of peace, I'm sure."

  
"And miss out on all the fun?" Tony chuckled as he went to the kitchen. "Nah, I wouldn't dream of it." You heard the sink turn on. A couple of seconds later, the water was shut off. Tony came back, a cup of water in hand.

  
"I don't believe that's a good idea, Stark," Bruce advised quietly as he stepped back into the hallway. Everyone else followed him, including you. You couldn't stop Tony from getting into mischief.

  
"Tony, honey," you started. "You probably shouldn't-"

  
"Too late! Heads up, lovebirds!" Tony threw the water on Cass and Steve. He started to laugh, but it turned into a squeak, his eyes widening as Cass lunged at him with a snarl.

  
"Whoa! Hey, hang on there!" Steve jumped up and caught Cass by the waist, pulling her off of Tony before she could claw too much of his face up.

  
"Fuck you, Stark!" She hissed, eyes blazing and water dripping from her nose and hair.

  
"You need to lighten up," Tony snickered, wincing as his face moved. There were a few deep scratches, and she had apparently thrown a punch too; his eye was already turning an ugly shade purplish blue. "(Y/N)," he whimpered, "she hit me."

  
"And you threw water on them. You deserved that," you scolded as you pulled Tony up to his feet and drug him to the kitchen. "Now sit down and let me look at you."

  
Tony sat down obediently, pouting as you used a wet paper towel to clean up his face. You filled a Ziploc bag with some ice and wrapped it in a dish cloth.

  
"Here." You pressed the makeshift ice pack to his eye. "Keep that there. It'll help the swelling down. The scratches are nothing to worry about. You're lucky she didn't do worse. She still reacts with assassin's instinct, Tony. You have to keep that in mind." You kissed his cheek and smiled at him.

  
"Yeah, yeah, I know." He rolled his eyes, then smiled back. "Thanks, honey bee. For always patching me up."

  
"You need someone around to fix you," you laughed. "If you keep throwing water on highly trained agents to wake them up, you might need a good plastic surgeon to keep on hand."

  
Steve had pulled his t-shirt off and used it to dry his head off. He began drying Cass's hair, working on calming her back down as she glared daggers at the back of Tony's head.

  
"Now that was worth waking up early for," Pietro grinned as he meandered into the kitchen, followed by Clint and Thor.

  
"Would playing a game make you feel better, Cass?" Sam offered as he went to the entertainment center.

  
"Only if I can beat something's head in and name it after Tony," she shrugged, blinking contentedly as Steve stroked her damp hair.

  
"What about...Left 4 Dead?"

  
"The second one," she agreed, then caught the controller Sam tossed to her. Cass settled back in Steve's lap, she and Sam playing co-op missions and massacring zombies together.

  
Wanda and Natasha offered to make breakfast, and you pitched in to help. Vision tried to assist, wanting to be helpful to Wanda, but as intelligent as he was, culinary skills weren't quite a strong point he had acquired yet.

  
After a small waffle iron fire, you had waffles and bacon for everyone. Steve opted for eating around Cass, while she and Sam postponed the offer of food for a moment while the zombie genocide was taking place. Everyone else gathered around the table, Wanda taking a seat in Vision's lap so that everyone would have room.

  
You sat next to Tony, helping him cut up his waffles when he bemoaned the fact that he only had one free hand since the other was still holding his ice pack. While you were leaning over to help him with his food, he bent down, his lips at your ear.

  
"When Cass simmers down later," he whispered, "have her meet us in your little surgery room or whatever it is. I got a message from Fury this morning. Agents dead after a failed trip to shut down a Hydra facility. Our mole is rearing its head again."

  
A sick feeling clenched at your stomach. You thought you had been rid of Hydra. You wanted to be so bad, wanted you and Cass to be free from their clutches, but it didn't seem like that would ever happen. You nodded silently and poked around at your own food, your appetite diminished.

  
"Holy shit!" Cass screamed as a hunter jumped out in front of her on the screen. She opened fire, since the monster had just barely missed landing on her.

  
"Hang on, I'm coming!" Sam reassured her as he ran his character over to hers.

  
"Phrasing!" She laughed as the hunter was finally killed.

  
"Langauge," Steve tapped her on the nose lightly as he set his empty plate down on the coffee table. "What is the point of this game?"

  
"Kill zombies and not die while trying to escape," Sam answered nonchalantly.

  
"I prefer killing them with melee weapons if possible," Cass piped up as she picked up a katana. "But I suppose swords will work just as well. Ho ho ho, motherfuckers!"

  
"Do I need to start a swear jar?" Steve groaned. "I'll make two. One for you and one for everyone else. Yours will be filled up within a couple of days, I'm sure."

  
"I can just give you my debit card," Cass shrugged. "That'll buy me a few insults and rants."

  
"Just give up, Steve," you called from the kitchen. "I tried my hardest, but I couldn't stop her from swearing."

  
"Why the fuck would you wanna do that?" Clint asked. "It's fun. Fuck fuck fuckity fuck fuck."

  
"Fifty bucks in the jar," Tony joked. "My name is Steve and I do not approve that message," he mimicked Steve's voice.

  
"I can feel my IQ dropping by the minute," Natasha muttered around her coffee.

  
"Tell me about it," Bruce smiled sympathetically as he took his plate to the sink.

  
"Well, I guess I'd better get some work done," Tony announced as he got up, dumping his dishes in the sink before giving you a wink and leaving the room. You helped clean up a bit, buying yourself some time before you went into the common room. You motioned to Cass and she got up from Steve's lap, passing the controller to Clint as she came over to you.

  
"Come with me," you whispered. "We need your help."


	13. Pest Control

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You, Tony, and Cass sit down to take a look at some of the information you have about the leaks of mission information. Cass spots someone, an agent she has dealt with in the past who has seemingly infiltrated SHIELD. Tony has to get more intel, and fast.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Boring chapter is boring and I hate it. I can't wait for more action time! (But we gotta have the boring parts too... *sigh*)

"Alright, what's going on?" Cass gingerly eased herself into a chair, wincing as her injured ribs sent flares of pain radiating through her body. "Why am I in the same room as little bastard clown boy?"

  
"Simmer down, puddy tat," Tony drug a chair over, turning it around and straddling it. "I'm sorry for throwing water on you, alright? That was...kind of dumb."

  
"I'm not sorry for punching you in the face," Cass shrugged. "You deserved that, but I forgive you."

  
"Thanks for playing nice, you two." You brought your own chair over and sat down. "Cass, there's a mole."

  
"Why not call pest control then?" She arched up an eyebrow. "Just because I act like a cat sometimes doesn't mean I catch rodents for people."

  
"What if this mole was burrowed away somewhere inside SHIELD?" Tony leaned his forearms against the chair's back. "You know, where the average pest control person isn't allowed access. Could you make an exception then?"

  
"I think so," she nodded. "What's been happening? I need some evidence first before I can know where to start."

  
"Let's start with your first mission," Tony pulled out his phone and set it down on the desk that the three of you were gathered around. "FRIDAY, project the blueprints of that compound Miss Shaw, Captain Rogers, Barton, and Romanov visited."

  
"Yes, sir." The image was projected up holographically from his phone.

  
"Alright." Tony glanced up at Cass. "We acquired this prints of the compound before the misson and planned out the best assault option. We had scouts staking out this place for a week, giving us tips on guard rotations, what entrances were the least heavily guarded, getting an estimate on the average number of hostiles, that sort of thing."

  
"Yeah, I remember that," she nodded. "It was boring and I think I fell asleep."

  
"I dozed a bit too," he shrugged. "Well, here's the problem. There were supposed to be an estimated 20 agents guarding that compound. 25 tops. It wasn't an important facility. Guess how many confirmed kills there were?"

  
"Stark, if I kept track of every person I have killed, I'd have to carry around notebooks and a calculator."

  
"Good thing that's what I'm here." He pushed his phone aside. "52 confirmed kills. That's double the projected amount of resistance. Someone either lied about the numbers so we would walk in there unprepared, or they tipped off Hydra so that they could bring in more manpower."

  
"That place did seem a little over guarded," Cass nodded.

  
"We spent some time at that compound," you chimed in. "We used it mostly for training exercises. It was never a vital extension of Hydra."

  
"And now," Tony swiped the holograph away, bringing up a new one. It was a list of names. "Fury contacted me. We had some new agents just starting field work who went out to shut down some scraggly vigilante outfit that might have had Hydra ties. No organized army or anything, just some poor farmers who found cheap firearms. All 10 agents are dead."

  
Cass went through the list slowly, going over each name and studying the faces. "Have they recovered all the bodies?"

  
"All of them but one."

  
She paused, eyes narrowing as she looked at one young woman's face. "What about her?"

  
"Her? That's Joy Jones. She's the one whose body we couldn't find."

  
"That's because she's Lindsey Williams." Cass leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms. "You can't find her body because she isn't dead, and that's because she's a Hydra agent. I worked with her once before. Never liked her."

  
"Oh, holy shit..." Tony stared in horror.

  
"This is..." You swallowed hard. "This is bad. This is fucking terrible. What do we do?"

  
"Get me names," Cass ordered as she eased up from her chair, holding her rib cage with one hand and gripping the desk with the other, jaws clenched in a pained grimace. "I want files of every single person who SHIELD has employed in the past year. Doesn't matter if they're janitors, paper bitches...I want info on them."

  
"I can get it," Tony stood up, steadying her as her injured leg started to give away. "Why don't you go back to bed?"

  
"I'll get you some more medicine for the pain," you offered. "Go back to your room and I'll bring it up later."

  
"And I'll get those files from Fury. He'll probably say no, so I imagine I'll have to sneak around the SHIElD security system and steal the files. I'll e-mail them to you."

  
"Good deal," Cass nodded as she limped out of the room. "I can't be much help kicking ass right now, so I'll just have to find out whose ass needs the kicking."

  
"FRIDAY, have Captain Rogers come get Cassidy, please," you spoke to the AI as you unlocked one of your medicine cabinets where you kept painkillers.

  
"Yes, Doctor (Y/N)."

  
"We should have screened these people better," Tony muttered with a scowl. "I...I almost feel like it's my fault. I should've ignored Fury and done my own digging."

  
"Tony," you patted his shoulder as you walked past him with a bottle of medicine in your hand. "Things just happen sometimes. That doesn't make it your fault. Stop blaming yourself for things you have no control over."

  
"It could have been in my control," he followed you like a lost puppy. "I should've done it behind his back. Because of me...we lost agents, Clint was wounded, we could've lost Cass..."

  
"Tony!" You turned around, hands on your hips. "Stop that! Quit taking the blame for everything bad that happens! I know why you do it. You...you want things to be your fault so that no one else has to take the fall so that there's a reason for things and they're not so scary, but...sometimes bad things just happen."

  
"Maybe so..." He smiled softly at you and kissed your nose. "You're usually right. Thanks. Now, I better get to hacking SHIELD's mainframe." He cupped your chin in his hand, giving you a gentle kiss. "Join me in my room later," he whispered. "I bet I can get those files together by the time you take Cass her medicine and come up."

  
"Oh? Did you have something in mind?" You blinked innocently at him.

  
"When don't I?" He winked at you and gave your ass a smack before hurrying to the door and down the hall. Tony went to the elevator, taking it to the top floor. He racked his brain, trying to think of all the people who had joined recently. You and Cass had, but...no. No, neither of you would do that, he told himself.

  
He went to the end of the hall, up the staircase, and entered his penthouse. He stood in front of his massive desk area. "FRIDAY, get me to SHIELD's database. We've got some hacking to do."


	14. Rat Trap

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's taken a little time, but Cass has finally chased down enough leads to form a rather strong case against her two main suspects. The only problem? One went mission in a field operation, and the other has left the country.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Be honest: ain't Cass a great friend? She just got you and Tony a surprise trip to India. (I AM SO EXCITED, THERE'S GONNA BE SOME ASS KICKING GOING ON SOON!)

"(Y/N)?" Cass's head appeared in the doorway of your room. You look up from where you had been reading a book on your couch.

  
"Hey, Cass! Come in!" You placed a bookmark in between the pages and set your book down on the coffee table. "What's up?"

  
She glanced up and down the hallway behind her, then slipped inside and shut the door quietly before padding silently over to you. "Okay, so you know the whole secret Hydra agent in SHIELD thing I've been working on for the past month?"

  
"Yeah? What about it? Did something turn up?" You sat up straight, making room for her as she sat down on the couch, placing down a couple of files on the coffee table. She opened them up, pulling out a few pages.

  
"Sure did. I wish it hadn't taken so long, but this kind of stuff takes time. I can't just accuse Fury's agents without proof." She handed you the pages, which looked like e-mail correspondence. "I had my two prime suspects in no time. Lindsey Williams, of course, but there had to be one more person working with her. Took me a day or so, but I found this one." She handed you a picture of a rather average looking young man. "Patrick Trevino is what he goes by, but his real name is Chester Dawson."

  
"Holy shit, I remember him!" You studied the picture closely. "Looks like he traded in is contacts for glasses, changed up his hair, and lost that mangy beard he had, but that's him. He was a dick."

  
"Remember when I escaped my cell, snuck through the vents, and switched out his coffee for a cup of lukewarm soy sauce?" She grinned, a devilish gleam in her eyes.

  
"I remember that," you laughed gleefully. "He choked and then spewed soy sauce all over the lab. Ruined several thousand dollars worth of equipment and got put in solitary for it."

  
"That's what he deserved for shoving you," she shrugged nonchalantly.

  
"You always did take up for me," you smiled and patted her knee.

  
"I always will," she shrugged. "You kept me alive when Hydra had me all turned inside out and going through hell. I figure I can do no less than always be there when you need me."

  
"You've done more than enough to make up for it."

  
"(Y/N), you did more than save my life. You saved my mind. When it was mush from them trying to splice my DNA with animals', you got me back to sanity."

  
"You did bite me a few times," you admitted with a grin. "I was afraid I might get rabies."

  
"I have a list made of people I want to bite if I ever am rabid," she snickered, then turned her attention back to her research, gathering up a few more printed out e-mails. "This is correspondence back and forth between Lindsey and Chester." She let you read over them.

  
You skimmed over the e-mails, then frowned. "These are all written in some sort of code...It's not making much sense to me."

  
"Ah, but that's where I came in." She grabbed up another bundle. "Here, I deciphered every single e-mail and rewrote them all so that anyone else we need to read it can understand them."

  
"Why not just give me this stack to start with?" You arched up an eyebrow.

  
"Because I wanted you to see all the hard work I put into this," she wiggled her brows playfully.

  
You rolled your eyes and read the translated conversation. "Wow... This has everything...dates, locations, mission details... Look, that's where they were planning how to contact other Hydra agents." You looked up at her. "This is amazing. And I mean that. I bet this would be enough to take them into custody right now."

  
"Ah, but that's the thing..." She leaned forwards, putting the papers back into their folder before opening up the next one. "Our dear friend Chester has...conveniently disappeared." She withdrew several more photographs and some screenshots. "Someone got him a plane ticket to India. Most of the vital information wasn't there. I don't think even Chester knew where exactly he was going, just the country. The e-mail telling him about the flight said only that he'd be receiving a package with more info, but there's no way I can figure out what was in it."

  
"So he's gone? The big key to stopping the mission sabotage is fucking missing? What the hell?! Why didn't you tell anyone about this??"

  
"And jeopardize my work? Not likely." She patted your head. "Undo the calamity that is your mammaries. There's more." She pulled out more sheets. "I was able to obtain the flight craft serial number and manufacturer, then what airline procured the plane. From there, I narrowed things down further and found the flight number."

  
"And with the flight number, you tracked down where he was going." You shook your head. "You sneaky bastard."

  
"You made me," she shrugged.

  
"Touche," you chuckled. "So, where is our dear old friend?"

  
"Leh," she dug through her papers some more and pulled out a map of India she had printed out. "Up here, in the Jammu and Kashmir state. The northern part of India. Little town in the Himalayas."

  
"What would he be doing there?"

  
"Hiding," she shrugged. "It's kind of remote, yet there's also tourist activity there, so no one would really question his presence."

  
"What are we going to do?" You looked back up at her.

  
"You, my dear, are going to stay here," she smiled. "I need someone on the ear piece to get me intel, after all."

  
"Oh, no... No, I can't do that." You shook your head. "My days of doing all that are over."

  
"Come on," she groaned. "I know you can do it. I certainly don't want Tony talking to me the whole time, or I'll have to kick his ass once I get back. We aren't telling anyone else, remember?"

  
"Wait- you're not going by yourself. You weren't planning to, right?"

  
"Well, actually, I was. There's no one else who can go with me."

  
"No. No way. You are not going on a solo mission. You just now are finally over your injuries."

  
"From a botched mission," she pointed out. "This mission was never authorized, therefore no one knows about it, which means no one can cock it up."

  
"I'm going with you," you insisted.

  
"Fine," she scoffed. "You and Tony come with me. It'll be a good cover up story. You two are going on a spontaneous, romantic getaway."

  
"But why would you be with us? We need an excuse for that."

  
"I'm there to act as a cockblock? You and Tony want a threesome? Or, and I like this idea better, we just don't tell anyone and poof, I'm gone."

  
"And Steve?" You caught her with a stern look. "What are you going to tell him? You're just gonna vanish and make him worry about you?"

  
"You ruin all the fun," she scowled. "Fine. I'll...I'll think of something. But you and Tony have to stay out of the way. Got it? Hole up somewhere and give me intel support, but do not come on the actual mission with me. If things go wrong, I don't want you guys to be involved with it."

  
"Deal," you stuck out your hand and she shook it. "When are we going?"

  
"5:30 in the morning," she grinned wickedly. "Better get to packing."


	15. What Has to Be Done

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Before dawn, Cass leaves the Tower. Steve tries to stop her but fails. He comes to you and Tony, and that's when you make a few surprising conclusions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NO STEVE I'M SORRY I LOVE YOU!!! DON'T BE SAD BABY! ... I am a terrible person. Have some angst. And then some drama and panic!

"You can't do this." Steve stepped in front of the doorway, blocking the way out.

  
"Oh? You wanna watch and see?" Cass drew herself up to her full height, looking up straight into Steve's eyes, her own eyes narrowed. "Move, Steve. I'm going and that's final."

  
"Why won't you at least tell me where you're going?" He caught her by the shoulders, concern in his gaze. "Please, at least give me that much."

  
"No." She tried to wrench away from him, but he tightened his grip. "Dammit, Rogers, let go of me! If I don't tell you, you'll never have to lie to anyone, and if I don't come back, I won't have to worry about you coming to look for me!"

  
"Why are you doing this?" Steve raised his voice, fingers digging into her skin. He instantly regretted it, feeling guilty at the way she shrank back from him, cowering like a beaten dog.

  
"Because it's the only way to fix this."

  
"Fix what? Cass...Cassidy, please. Can't you give me something? Anything?" He let go of her, reaching out to stroke her cheek. She flinched away from his hand, and it hurt him worse than a kick in the stomach.

  
"It's Hydra, Steve. They're inside SHIELD. And I'm the reason they found me. Now let me pass."

  
"You..." He stared at her in shock as he numbly stepped aside. "How...?"

  
"It wasn't by choice," she muttered as she picked up the small bag she had packed. "Steve, for what it's worth, I-" She caught herself with a frown. "I'm sorry, Steve. But I won't let them have you. They want me. They can have me."

  
"No, don't do this! Just tell me what happened, what is happening, and we can- I can help you. We're a team, all of us."

  
"Not this time." She gave him a small smile, then went out the door without a look back. "Don't worry about Tony and (Y/N). The flight I lied about booking them on isn't going where I am. I already made sure of it." She walked down the hall, feet silent.

_

"(Y/N)! Tony?!"

  
A pounding on the door roused you from your sleep. You heard Tony let out a groan beside you, and he pulled you closer to his bare chest. The two of you had gotten a little carried away last night and had stayed up much, much later than you had intended. The bed was a mess and you were fairly certain that your bra had somehow landed on the ceiling fan.

  
"Go away," Tony called as he yanked the covers up.

  
"(Y/N), please! Cass is gone!"

  
You sat up straight, trying to rid yourself of the sleepy fog clouding your mind. You kicked off the covers and were starting to yank on your clothes when you noticed a blood-splattered envelope on the nightstand on your side of the bed. You picked it up hesitantly, then went to the door.

  
"Steve?" You opened the door after getting most of your clothes on. He had been crying. "Steve, what happened? What do you mean she's gone?"

  
He looked down at the envelope in your hand, then back up at you. "She left-"

  
"Oh, fuck! Tony, get up! We've gotta get to the airport-"

  
"She set it all up," Steve interrupted. "She-she told me that you and Tony won't be going where she is. In fact, she lied. She didn't book you two a flight at all."

  
"Then-then where is she going?"

  
"I don't know. She wouldn't tell me." He hung his head, and you could see tears starting to form in his eyes. "We argued and I- I scared her. I didn't mean to yell, I just...I got so worried and she wouldn't tell me anything."

  
"Jesus Christ, Steve..." You hugged him, feeling yourself start to cry.

  
"Someone better be dying," Tony growled as he stalked over in his pajama pants. "What's got you two all worked up?"

  
"Cass left, Tony," you choked out.

  
"Shit!" He sprang into action, hurrying to his desk. "FRIDAY, I need all of today's flights, including ones that have already departed!"

  
"Tony, don't." You let go of Steve and moved towards Tony. "She doesn't want us to find her. I have a feeling she didn't even take a commercial airline. She's smart enough to avoid being tracked."

  
"What's that? Did she leave it?" Tony pointed at the envelope you had forgotten was in your hand.

  
"I'm not sure. Probably. I can't think of anyone good enough to sneak in and out of here." You tore open the envelope and gingerly pulled out a folded piece of paper. More blood flecked it, and you were glad that you were a medical professional. The corners of the note were stuck together, and you eased them open. Out fell a very tiny but familiar object, partially embedded in a piece of flesh.

  
"Is that-" Tony stared down at it. "That's a microchip of some sort."

  
"Yes," you nodded. "A tracking device. We put one in all of Hydra's most prized agents, in case we ever needed to find them again. I deactivated it when we left the compound nearly two years ago, though..." You looked at the note.

  
"What was the big deal with it then? What did she write?" Steve stood on the other side of Tony, studying the tracking device in fascination.

  
"They've found me," you read aloud from the note. "Again. They will always find me, even without this...thing. I cut it out as a mere formality. And as a symbol. They can no longer find me, but neither can you. Don't try. Get rid of this so that they can't find you either. Stay with the Avengers. They'll keep you safe now. I have no place among civilized people. Tell everyone I'm sorry, including Steve. Especially Steve. Tell him I-" you stopped.

  
"Tell me what?" Steve was looking expectantly at you.

  
"I can't read the rest," you shook your head. "Big spot of blood ruined the rest of the sentence." You picked up the tracking device in between your thumb and forefinger and walked to the door.

  
"So...that's it?" Tony looked back and forth, from you, to Steve, and then back to you. "We're not going to do anything?"

  
"What is there to do, Stark?" Steve shot him a quick glare. "She's made it pretty clear that she doesn't want us trying to find her."

  
"Now when has that ever stopped us before?" Tony smirked. "(Y/N), baby, what are you doing?"

  
"I have to find a way to get rid of this thing. I doubt it will still work after being removed from her body, but just as a precaution."

  
"Neither of you are even going to try and hunt her down? I'll help! We'll all help, she was part of the team. (Y/N), she...she's your best friend. You're really gonna let her go?"

  
"We can't find her, Tony." You paused in the doorway. "If she doesn't want to be found, no one can find her. Not even you, with all your technology and money. Natasha can't. Clint can't. I created someone who could become a shadow, who could melt away in any surroundings...it's done. She's protecting us, protecting me, one last time."

  
You walked down the hallway, tears welling up in your eyes again as you made your way to your mini-hospital. Once there, you began searching for a way to get rid of the tracking device and finally settled for just burning it. You watched the flames begin to penetrate its coating, and you sat down in your chair.

  
She was gone. Your friend, your protector, the one you had always been able to count on...she had left, and broken Steve's heart in the process. Yours wasn't feeling too dandy either.

  
You weren't sure how long you sat in your chair, arms folded on the desk and your head on them as you sobbed, but something shook the entire tower, and sirens wailed as the lights began to flicker.

  
"Miss (Y/N)," FRIDAY spoke over the intercom. "Please stay here and remain hidden. Mr. Stark will come for you shortly. This is not a drill. I repeat, please stay hidden and silent."

  
"Oh my God..." You looked around the room, trying to decide on a good hiding spot. Finally, you picked one of the closets. You stuffed yourself away between the supplies, hugging your knees as the tower quaked again. Gunfire could be faintly heard, and explosions echoed. Over it all, your heart pounded in your ears. You heard the door to the room creak open after several long minutes.

  
"(Y/N)? Baby, it's me. Come out for second."

  
You scrambled out of your hiding place at Tony's voice and emerged only to see him in his suit. "Tony? What's going on?"

  
"Oh, sweet baby Jesus," he let out a sigh of relief as the visor of his helmet raised up. "I was hoping you had listened to FRIDAY. If something had happened to you..." He hugged you close against the cool metal of his armor.

  
"Okay, but what the hell is happening out there?"

  
"It's Hydra. They're storming the tower." He glanced over his shoulder as another explosion rattled the hall. He shoved something into your hands. "Here. Take this. Use it if you have to."

  
The pistol felt heavy in your hands as you stared down at it. Heavy, clumsy...it looked cruel and it made your blood go cold.

  
"Tony, I can't..."

  
"You can." He kissed your forehead. "Go back to hiding. I'll come get you as soon as it's safe. Alright?" He kissed your lips then, a deep, but hurried kiss. "I love you. More than anything. Now go, go!"

  
He ran out of the room and you scurried back into your hiding place, gripping the weapon close to your chest. You'd never had the need to use a gun, never had needed to kill someone. Cass had always been there to protect you before, and then Tony had... You whimpered softly and tried to occupy yourself by thinking of how this had happened.

  
"I deactivated that tracker," you muttered to yourself. "The compound was destroyed, and it had the only system able to control the activation status... Someone would have to-" you felt nauseous, "someone went back to the old compound and got into the system...and reactivated her tracking device..." You wanted to throw up, but knew it wouldn't help anything.

  
You knew where Cass was going. She had fabricated part of the information about Chester, that part was obvious to you now. He wasn't going to India. She wasn't going to India. She was going back to Siberia, to the ruins of the compound where she had been held prisoner, and so was he.

  
Still clutching the revolver, you prayed to whoever was listening that she and the Avengers would be alright.


	16. There Will be Blood

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cass has caught up with Chester Dawson. When she confronts him, she discovers that he has sent Hydra teams to capture the Avengers. All of them. She has no plans on letting him finish what he started.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Three cheers for kickass Cass! Have no fears, my darling dumplings, our anti-hero is here to save the day and tear out people's hearts. (Literally).

Snow swirled through the air, wind tugging at Cass's clothes as she stalked past the corpses that littered the ground. Blood turned the snow red in many places. She stopped beside the body of a young woman and kicked her in the side, making her turn over onto her back.

  
"Howdy, Lindsey." She smiled cruelly, sharp teeth bared. "How's that gut wound coming along?"

  
"You always...were a bitch," the blonde gasped out, crimson spattering her lips as she coughed.

  
"Uh huh, I was," Cass shrugged nonchalantly. "And you were always a good-for-nothing, cock smoking, cum gargling, monkey humper."

  
"I see you still come up with unnecessarily long insults."

  
"I see you're still annoying as piss." Cass pressed her booted foot on the woman's throat, slowly applying pressure. "Now that we've exchanged pleasantries, let's get down to business. Where is Dawson?"

  
"Why...do you...care?" Lindsey wheezed, fighting to catch her breath. She clawed at Cass's boot.

  
"Thought I'd go pay him a visit. You know, have a friendly chat, maybe sit around a fire with some hot cocoa. Extra marshmallows. Maybe a peppermint stick."

  
"You're too late...he's- he's already...done."

  
"Done with what? Being a cunt? That's impossible for him to stop." Cass pressed down harder with her foot. "Why don't you tell me what I want to know, and I'll go ahead and make your passing easier."

  
"You've failed them, Lioness," Lindsey sneered. "You betrayed Hydra," she choked and began hacking and trying to suck in air, a bloody bubble forming between her lips, "and-and n-now, the Avengers...they're...they're done for."

  
"Nice talking to you. You always were a wonderful conversationalist."

  
"Go...to...Hell..."

  
Cass smirked. "Save me a spot, will ya?" She lifted her foot just for a moment, only to stomp back down, twisting her leg as her boot came into contact with the woman's throat. There was a gurgle, a snap, and then silence.

  
"Bitch," Cass grumbled under her breath as she limped towards the building that used to be her prison. Everything else was still in ruins, but it was apparent that someone had tried to start some repairs on the main HQ building. Pain was biting at her nerves, but she steeled herself and ignored it.

  
The agents who had been guarding the compound had been heavily armed and had put up a fight. She took out as many as she could through stealthy means, but a firefight couldn't be avoided. Luckily, she didn't think she had any serious injuries. Some burns from a few bullets, one had put a gouge in her bicep. One agent's knife had taken a notch from her ear. Her knife had taken a notch from his throat, so she considered it even.

  
"Dawson?" She stood tall in the trashed hallway, rage beginning to build inside her, along with worry. What had Williams meant about her failing the Avengers? She had done nothing to hurt them. In fact, she had left. She thought that was a good thing. "Dawson! Chester, where the hell are you?"

  
Cass moved through the rubble, pupils expanding to gather in light as the surroundings grew dimmer. There was no noise reaching her ears, nothing that would give away his position. Nothing but the whistle of the wind as it came in through the crumbling walls.

  
As she eased into one of the old main laboratories, her gun raised, the main lights came on. She hissed and reeled backward, blinking against the brightness as her pupils constricted back into tight little slits. When she could see, Chester Dawson stood across the room from her, shotgun in hand, the barrel aimed right at her torso.

  
"Fancy meeting you here," he smiled at her. "Did you get lost, little kitty? Finally found your way home again?"

  
"Oh, you know how my type is," she shrugged, pistol leveled at him. He was a bit far away for the shotgun to have a fully effective blast, so she knew she had an advantage on accuracy, if not firepower. "Wander around for a bit, maybe a year or so. Feel like goin' home for a spell."

  
"I know why you're here, Lioness," he leaned back against the counter, still keeping his gun on her.

  
"Yeah, I forgot to grab my toothbrush when I left. Such a pity. Still had another month or two of use left." She stood her ground, feet spread out to shoulder width. "You ain't gonna do much damage with that from this distance, you know. Whatcha got in there?"

  
"Birdshot, I think," Chester studied the gun in his hands.

  
"Uh huh..." She nodded. "Well, hate to tell you this, but that loses its effectiveness at about 40 yards. I'm...what, 45 or 50 way? It'll hurt me, but you'll be dead before you have a chance to shoot again. Should've taken more training, Dawson."

  
"Perhaps so," he admitted with a smile. "But I wasn't really planning on using this on you. It was merely for show, I suppose." He set the shotgun down on the counter.

  
"Oh? You wanna do this hand-to-hand? Man versus woman?" She holstered her pistol. "Your funeral."

  
"You mean, man against monster? I wouldn't be so sure of myself if I were you." He shrugged off his coat and set it aside. "You left before the program ever started, but Hydra offered for some of their employees to be...enhanced. I volunteered."

  
"Ooh, whatcha gonna do? Disappoint me to death?" Cass scoffed while subtly shifting her weight onto the balls of her feet, getting ready to pounce as soon as he let his guard down.

  
"I was thinking more along the lines of 'throttling the life out of you with my bare hands'. How does that sound to you?" He was edging casually over towards the old fridge that had been used to preserve chemicals.

  
"Kinky." She flashed him a grin, then swore as the fridge came hurtling towards her. She jumped out of the way and jumped over a desk, heading straight for Dawson. She swung a punch straight at his face. He caught her hand and they stayed still for a moment.

  
"You're not the only one who is freakishly strong now," he crowed proudly.

  
"I bet your girlfriend would be really impressed. If you could manage to get laid." She faked a punch with her other hand, and when he tried to grab it, she jerked a knee up into his groin. He doubled over with a groan. Cass yanked away from him and delivered a roundhouse kick to his temple, sending him down.

  
She pounced on him, going for the killing blow, but he grabbed her by the throat and threw her back against the wall with enough force to crack the thick layer of sheetrock. Cass got to her feet with a groan, her hand reaching down for her knife. It wasn't there, and a flash of terror went through her when she saw it in Chester's hand.

  
"Looking for something?" Chester waved the knife. "I don't know much about knives, but this seems to be a rather nice blade. Why is it black?"

  
"So that it won't reflect any light when you're sneaking up on someone to slit their throat. Good for stealth missions," she coughed, thanking Doctor (Y/N) for making her bones strong enough to withstand such a blow. "Come on then. Try and finish what you started."

  
"I actually changed my mind." Chester took a step towards her. "I'm thinking about taking you alive and keeping you around long enough so that you can watch me kill off all your silly little friends."

  
"What the hell are you talking about?" She glared at him, the two of them circling each other slowly like wild animals.

  
"The Avengers, of course. If everything has gone according to plan, my team will have infiltrated the tower by now, killed any agent who got in their way and taken your 'friends' into custody. Oh, and your dear Captain Rogers- do you call him Steve? I'm certain you do- I think I'll save him for last. Let you watch as I slit his throat and rid the world of the man who should have died nearly a century ago."

  
"You ain't gonna lay a hand on any of them," Cass growled, eyes flashing. "You really think you can beat them?"

  
"I do," he nodded smugly. "We've been preparing this ever since we discovered that you and Doctor (L/N) had taken refuge with them. Don't worry, we have made all the necessary preparations to take everyone into custody, including your dear friend, Dr. Banner."

  
"You won't win this," she snarled, feeling the old, familiar feral sensation seeping into her.

  
"What makes you so sure about that? In fact, I think I've already won. Do they have some sort of 'secret weapon' I should be concerned about?" He scoffed and rolled his eyes.

  
"Yeah. They do." She stretched her neck, legs coiling beneath her. "Me." In a flash she pounced on top of him, not fighting the wild rage that boiled over and took control. She clawed at his skin with the claws Tony and Bruce had made for her, tearing through his clothes and trying to sink her teeth into his neck.

  
Chester did his best to block her attacks, her teeth ripping at his forearms as he used them to protect his throat. He managed to punch her in the side of the head, and she shook herself with a growl. He swung wildly with the knife, trying to make it to her chest. It went into the muscle of her arm, however, and stayed there.

  
Cass caught his arms and pinned them down at his sides with her knees, one hand closing around his throat while her other hand rested on his chest, claws pressing against his skin.

  
"You want to watch bloodshed, Dawson?" Her voice was a low, seductive purr, and it sent a shiver down his spine. "You can if you want. Keep your eyes open, and I'll show you what happens to anyone who tries to hurt my friends."

  
"Wh-what are you going to do...?"

  
"Watch." Her lips turned into a smile, her mouth and face red from his blood.

  
A scream tore out of his throat as she plunged her claws into his chest, tearing his flesh open and snapping his ribs out of the way. He struggled beneath her, fighting to get loose, knowing that he should have been stronger than her. He only managed to catch a glimpse of his heart in her hand after she ripped it out.

  
Cass stared down at the dead man, blood splattered all around them from the struggle. She looked at the still-warm organ in her hand, then crushed it with her fingers, growling in her throat. She got to her feet, letting the remains of his heart fall to the ground as she limped out of the ruined room, heading outside.

  
The knife was still in her arm, and she braced herself against the doorway and yanked it out. It hurt like hell, and blood was drizzling onto the snow, like a morbid kind of snow cone.

  
She smiled grimly to herself, "Like something out of a modern day Edgar Allan Poe..." She limped across the carnage-strewn runways, towards a hanger that was still closed. Hopefully, there would be an aircraft inside. She had let hers crash since she hadn't planned on leaving this place. But things had a way of changing, and now, she had to get back and save her friends. If Dawson had been telling the truth, and things really had gone according to plan, the Avengers would be long gone by now. She would have to hunt them down.

  
The hanger contained a small jet used on stealth missions. There was only room for one person, but it was light and fast enough to cut down several hours on flight time. After finding an old crate, she busted it up and used the wood from it to build herself a fire.

  
"This is gonna suck," Cass muttered to herself as she placed the blade of her knife in the flames once they got built up enough. She unzipped her suit, pulling the top part down enough to expose her wounded arm. There were other injuries, but they weren't too bad and had mostly stopped bleeding. This one had been more direct. Time crawled by, and she felt more and more anxious

  
She watched the knife blade begin to glow with heat and picked it up, thankful that her gloves protected her hands. Cass took a deep breath, gritted her teeth, and pressed the flat side of the blade against the entry wound on her arm, her scream echoing through the hanger.


	17. One Step Behind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's been two days since Hydra has stormed the Avengers Tower. You know that things are bad since no one has come for you. One day, while trying to sneak back to your hiding place after getting a hurried shower, a Hydra agent finds you. Just as you think you're done for, you get a surprise visitor who manages to play with the agent's heart. Literally.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SURPRISE, MOTHERFUCKERS! Damn, nothing like good timing to keep you out of trouble, am I right? Also, keep an eye out for the Archer reference.
> 
> Psst, hey! I still wanna do a solo Cass story. Would y'all like that? Pls tell me so I can start planning my next story.

For two days you had been hiding. You hadn't seen Tony since he had first came to find you and told you to stay hidden. You hadn't seen anyone else either, so you figured it was safe to assume that things were not good, whatever had happened. Thankfully, your clinic had a bathroom. Taking a shower was possible, but you were very careful about it in case any Hydra agents happened to have snuck into the room while you were out of your hiding place.

  
You could get water from the sink, so that was a plus, but that was were the perks ended. You had no food, no clean clothes, and your showers were cold and extremely limited, so you still didn't feel very clean.

  
On the second evening, you crept out of the bathroom, towel around your body. You peeked out the bathroom door to make sure the coast was clear, and went scurrying back towards your closet. A hand grabbed you by the shoulder and yanked you backwards.

  
You screamed, trying to clutch your towel to cover your body as it started to fall. A man in full tactical gear towered over you. He shoved you back against the wall, one hand on your throat and the other holding his pistol to your head. Your own gun was still in your hiding spot, and you wished you had it with you.

  
"Well, well, well..." He looked you over, a cruel smirk playing on his lips. "How long have you been here, sweetheart? I thought they said every room was clear... Lazy bastards." He shrugged. "Oh well. I suppose I can have a little fun before turning you in."

  
"Let go of me," you ordered, wanting to sound authoritative, but it came out as more of a whimper. "Where are the Avengers?"

  
"Somewhere else," he chuckled, then yanked your towel away, keeping the gun barrel pressed against your temple. "Say, hang on. I think I saw something about you on the news. You're Stark's girl, ain't you?" He slid his gloved hand over your body. "Think he'd appreciate a video of you taking another man's cock? Could be fun to spite the all-mighty Iron Man."

  
"Get away, you bastard!" You tried to shove him away and he backhanded you for it.

  
"Bitch, you do what I tell you!" He caught your chin in your hand, squeezing your face painfully as he made you look up at him. "Maybe I can just kill you and he can watch me fuck your corpse. How about that instead?"

  
He holstered his gun and started to unbuckle his belt. He froze, his face contorting into a look of horror as a hand landed on his shoulder. A strangled noise came out of him, and you screamed as another hand came plunging through his chest, warm blood misting your skin.

  
"How about no?" A familiar voice spoke up as the Hydra agent's body dropped to the floor. "(Y/N)? Are you alright?"

  
Those amber eyes were looking down at you, so gentle and concerned that you started to sob.

  
"Where the fuck have you been?!" You swung a punch at Cass. She didn't try to stop it, and let you beat at her torso and abdomen with your fists. "You bitch! You fucking left! Hydra came and took everyone! Or killed them, I don't know, I've been hiding and that bastard-" You sank down to the floor, sobbing as you hugged your towel.

  
"(Y/N), I'm sorry." Cass knelt down beside you, pulling you into a hug, her body strong and safe feeling. "That's why I left. I-I thought I could stop this from happening, but...I wasn't planning on surviving. That's why I couldn't tell you everything. But Dawson, he told me what was happening, and I wasn't about to let them do this. I let you down... I'm sorry."

  
"Not just me," you shook your head as you looked up at her. "Cass, you- you broke Steve's heart. I never thought I'd see such a strong man cry, but he broke down and cried on my shoulder."

  
"Yeah," she nodded. "I'm a piece of shit, I know. But I couldn't risk him coming after me and getting killed. I'd never forgive myself for it. Doing this was bad enough, and knowing that I failed..." She frowned, then helped you up to your feet. "You get cleaned up. I've cleared the upper floors, so you should be good getting to your room. I'll take care of the rest of Hydra's forces here. Meet you in the common room in an hour?"

  
"Sure," you agreed. "You have something in mind?"

  
"I do," she nodded then headed for the door. "See you in a bit."

  
"Cass, you're hurt." You had just now noticed her torn and tattered suit, blood staining some of the fabric, and the bandage wrapped around her left arm.

  
"Don't worry about it," she shrugged, not stopping as she left you alone. "FRIDAY, get me a scan of the building. I need to locate all other hostiles."

_

Finally, you felt clean. It had taken two full body scrubs to make you feel like you had gotten all of the Hydra soldier's blood off you, but it made you feel much better. You got some clean clothes and went sneaking off to the common room. Cass was already there, a lone agent tied up to one of the kitchen chairs.

  
"Talk, you son of a bitch!" She snarled, glaring down at him.

  
"Go to hell!" The agent spat at her.

  
"Is that all they teach you in Piece-of-Shit-Soldier School? Use the same shitty phrases and act stupidly defiant, as if the person interrogating you isn't ten times scarier than you ever dreamed of being?"

  
"Cass? What are you doing?" You inched closer, not sure if you should intervene or not.

  
"Trying to make this fuck-faced twat talk," she shrugged. "Now, listen up. Either you tell me where they have taken the Avengers, or we'll play a little game called 'Bad Cop, Worse Cop'."

  
"Isn't that supposed to be 'Good Cop, Bad Cop?"

  
"Nope," she shook her head. "Because I'm both. If you don't tell me what I want to know, I'll just get meaner until you wish I would go ahead and end your miserable little existance."

  
"You know, this might be a bad idea," you suggested.

  
"Nonsense!" Cass grinned at you. "I've got so many different ways I could go about this. Now. I'm going to ask you again: Where does Hydra have the Avengers?"

  
"I'm not sayin' shit," the agent snapped.

  
"Suit yourself." Cass punched him straight in the jaw, a loud crack going through the air as the man's head snapped back into the wall. The agent screamed as his jaw hung limply on one side.

  
"You dislocated it," you hissed at her.

  
"Oops," Cass smiled. "Clumsy me. Here, let me just..." She grabbed the man's head and snapped his jaw back into place, making him scream again. "Change your mind yet?"

  
"Fuck you!"

  
"This is gonna be fun!" She laughed, then caught one of his hands. She gripped his pinky finger and with a twist and jerk, it snapped. "This little piggy went to market..."

  
"Go to hell!"

  
 _Snap!_ "This little piggy stayed home..."

  
"Stop it, you bitch!"

  
"This little piggy had roast beef..." _Snap!_

  
"Cass, stop it!" You stepped forwards, wanting to intervene as the man writhed and cried out in pain. A withering glare from her stopped you in your tracks.

  
"Until I get an answer from this shit stain, I'm gonna break every single one of his little piggies." She glanced back down at the man who was trembling and looked like he was about to throw up from the pain. "Maybe I should try something else..." She went to the kitchen and came back in a moment with a cheese grater in hand.

  
"J-Jesus, wha-what are you gonna do with that?" The frightened man asked. You weren't sure if you wanted to know the answer.

  
"I've always wanted to see what would happen if I used a cheese grater on someone. Maybe I should start with your cock first, just to see how it works before I try tougher skin." She reached out and began undoing his pants.

  
"No!" He screamed. "No, please, I'll talk! Just- don't hurt me again!"

  
"Deal," she withdrew her hand and tapped her nails idly on the cheese grater.

  
"It-it's in the Sahara Desert. I'm not sure of the exact location. I-I have the coordinates on my phone, they sent them to me."

  
"What are they planning on doing with the Avengers?" She demanded.

  
"I think they just want to kill them, but I- I don't really know for sure. Experimentation, maybe? S-someone said something about trying to brainwash Romanov and Barton maybe... Please, that's all I know! Will you let me go?"

  
"Sure." Cass moved behind the man. You gasped as you saw her draw her gun.

  
"Cass!"

  
Her pistol barked and the agent's head burst like a ripe cantaloupe, blood and brain matter splattering all over the room.

  
"You said you wouldn't hurt him anymore!" You glared at her.

  
"I didn't," she shrugged. "I killed him."

  
"What the fuck?!"

  
"Well, excuse me, (Y/N), it's a rampage!" She rolled her eyes, cut the agent's body free from the chair, and searched him until she found his phone. It took her just a moment to unlock it, and soon, she had the e-mail pulled up. "Yep, there we go. We've got our coordinates. You gonna come with me or stay here with dead men?"

  
"What are you going to do?" You looked up at her.

  
"We're going to have tea and cakes with the Hydra bastards who have taken our friends prisoner and are probably torturing and/or trying to brainwash them as we speak." She tossed you the phone. "I'm gonna tear the fuckers a new one, what do you think?"

  
"Fine," you sighed. "I'll go. I'm...I'm sorry for being mad at you..."

  
"Nah, I deserve it," she chuckled. "I'm a piece of shit. But you can tell me how much you hate me later. Come on, let's go. The jet I stole is built for one, but we can find room for one more, I'm sure."

  
"How are we going to get everyone back?" You followed her down the hall way.

  
"I'll steal something else." She glanced back at you with a grin. "Just like old times!"


	18. Hunting Party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You've located where the Avengers are being held. Cass decides that it would be best to attack once night has fallen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prepare yourself for kickassery! And feels! Because I'm a piece of shit and my goal as a writer is not complete if I don't make you at least a little sad!

"When are you going to tell me the truth of what all happened?" You were crammed into the jet's cockpit, all but sitting in Cass's lap as she piloted the small plane. You tried to keep from noticing how fast she was going, and instead focused on helping her navigate.

  
"I told you the truth. Most of it anyways," she shrugged. "I...I didn't tell you where he was really going. I didn't want anyone coming for me. I knew there was going to be an attack, but I was planning on stopping it before they could get to you. Obviously, I failed. I didn't know that until after I reached Dawson, though."

  
"How could you not have known?" You arched an eyebrow as you glanced over at her.

  
"There was some really heavy resistance," she replied. "Must've taken on about 30 or 35 agents. I thought that was all of them."

  
"I'm not sure how many were at the tower, but it had to have been an awful lot to overwhelm the Avengers." You chewed your lip anxiously. "Did you not plan on coming back...? Ever?"

  
"No," she shook her head. "I figured I'd die fighting or drag myself off into the woods to finish bleeding out. (Y/N), you know I'm not fit for life among regular people. I'm- I'm a monster. You've seen what I do to people. I hurt Tony, remember? I didn't mean to, it just happened."

  
"Cass," you touched her shoulder gently, noticing the way she winced. "I don't think any of the Avengers are exactly what you would call regular people. You fit in just fine."

  
"I'm no hero," she scoffed. "I'm going to save all of you from the mess I made, and then...then I'm going far away, where no one will ever have to see me again."

  
"But we don't want you to leave," you protested. "What don't you get about that?"

  
"I'm a monster, dammit, (Y/N)!" She cast you a wild, desperate look. "You watched me rip a man's heart out of his chest while he was still alive! I mean, sure, it's a totally badass way to finish someone off, but it's kinda heartless."

  
"Oh my God, you made that pun on purpose," you rolled your eyes.

  
"Yeah," she grinned sheepishly. "I guess I kinda did. But you're missing my point."

  
"No," you shook your head. "I get what you're saying, but what you're not understanding is that literally none of us care. You're trying to change. We both made a decision to take a new path. Yours was just a little more difficult, that's all. Everyone is willing to help you, to get you through this. You have to let us help."

  
"Guess I ain't used to people wanting to help me. Besides you," she added with a half smile.

  
"Stop beating yourself up. We've gotta go save our new family, and you owe Steve an apology and a kiss."

  
"I don't think he'd want to kiss me," she laughed. "I've had people blood in my mouth."

  
"I can find you some gum, I'm sure."

 

_

 

  
"Fuck's sake," Cass growled as the two of you stepped out of the jet. "Why can't Hydra pick a hideout in a temperate climate? It's always some place extreme. Either fucking Siberia where you'll freeze your nipples off or the biggest fucking desert in the world where it's hotter than Satan's ballsack in a volcanic sauna. I'm sure they make enough money to afford a hideout in a nice, temperate climate. Someone needs to have a talk with their HR department."

  
You let out a snort. "Steve would call you out on language, you know."

  
"I'm not gonna lie, I almost miss that look of disapproval he gives me." She used her knife to puncture the jet's fuel tanks. "There. Now no one else can use this."

  
"But how are we going to escape?"

  
"I told you. I'm gonna steal us a ride." She wiggled her eyebrows, then scanned the sandy terrain, squinting against the sun. "I can see the compound from here. Why don't we wait till night? It'll cover our approach and be cooler to travel."

  
"Sounds good to me. We can take turns keeping watch." You sat down under the jet, leaning your back against one of the wheels.

  
"That works for me." Cass sat down beside you and dug through her small satchel. She fished out a pack of cigarettes and lit one up, taking a slow drag and letting the smoke curl from her nostrils.

  
"That's bad for you, you know." You glanced her way with a smirk.

  
"And attacking Hydra compounds by myself isn't?" She shrugged one shoulder. "Something's gonna kill me anyways."

  
"What do you mean by yourself? I'm here."

  
"You ain't goin' into combat with me," she muttered as she let her eyes shut, cigarette dangling from her lips as she lazily puffed at it.

  
"Why not?"

  
"Cause I don't want you getting hurt. I'll clear the way for you, and then you can join me. How's that sound? I've got a drone I found. Little thing. You can scout ahead for me, let me know how many agents I've got in my way."

  
"Alright," you conceded. "I can do that. I probably wouldn't be much good in a fight anyways."

  
"Wake me up in an hour," she mumbled before grinding out her cigarette in the sand and dropping the butt, her eyes drifting shut.

  
You studied her in silence, noticing the worn look on her face, the bruises, the scratches, the blood staining her clothes. Most of it was probably someone else's, but some of it was hers too, you imagined. Carefully, you removed the bandage she had around her bicep.

  
The wound beneath was ugly, blood dried all about it and the skin festered up. She had apparently cauterized it, but you knew there would have been no way for her to properly clean the wound. If you made it out of here alive, you would have to work very hard to save her arm. You tied the bandage back.

  
A notch had been taken out of her ear and blood was matted in her hair, more of it drizzled down on her neck and cheek where it had dried. There was a cut on one cheekbone and another above her right eyebrow.

  
"You'd die for them, wouldn't you?" You whispered as you gently brushed some of her hair away from her face. "You'd give your life for any one of us at the drop of a hat." The worry lines on her face eased as she slept.

  
After trying to locate all of her various injuries, you finally returned your attention to the horizon. You could see the compound ahead, and you chewed your lip in worry. Night time was too far away, yet not close enough.


	19. Prison Break

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You and Cass bust the Avengers out, and everyone is accounted for. Except Steve.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, someone could have stopped the plane. But then there would have been no angst! Just let me have my way and ignore the loopholes because dammit, I want there to be feels! Also, this is a kinda long chapter. Hooray. You killed a man.

"Time to wake up."

  
A hand was on your shoulder, and your eyelids sprang open, your nerves still on edge from having being in hiding for two days straight. Cass was crouching in front of you, amber eyes aglow in the moonlight.

  
"Oh... How long was I asleep?" You rubbed at your eyes and stretched, yawning as you did.

  
"Few hours." Cass got to her feet, offering you her hand. You took it and she hauled you up. "Come on. We best move out."

  
"Alright..." You followed along behind her, the moon and stars bright in the clear black velvet of the night sky. "Got a plan yet?"

  
"There will be guards posted, per usual. I'll take them out nice and quiet, then get the gates open after clearing you out a path. If you'll stay hidden outside the compound while I do that and use the drone to scope things out for me, that would be really awesome."

  
"I can do that," you nodded. "Do you have ear pieces or something for us?"

  
"No, I figured we can just use smoke signals." She glanced back at you, sharp canines gleaming as she smiled. You involuntarily shivered. "Yeah, I got us earpieces. I won't be talking to you unless I'm in the clear. Alright? You'll be able to hear everything on my end, though."

  
"That'll work." You stopped a good fifty yards from the compound, crouching down behind a sand dune as Cass dug through her satchel.

  
"Here." She handed you an object that looked to be about the size of a wasp, then a small controller. "Just like using a remote control helicopter. I can hook this up to send feedback to your phone. Got it on you?"

  
"Yeah, but it's got low battery." You fished out your phone and showed it to her.

  
"You're Tony Stark's girlfriend and you still don't have something to automatically recharge your phone? Shame." She shook her head, then handed you her phone after getting it synced up to the drone. "Here. Use mine then."

  
"Cass?" You caught her arm, a pang of fear rushing through you. This was real. This was actually about to happen. The two of you were about to break out the Avengers from a Hydra compound. "Would it be foolish of me to ask you to at least try to be careful?"

  
"Probably." She flashed you a grin. "Don't worry about me. While I advance, take a moment to get familiar with the drone's controls, then fly it ahead and give me a good idea of what I'll be going up against." She tossed you an earpiece and slipped her own on, her hair covering it. "I'll have you back in Tony's billion dollar arms in no time."

  
She kicked off her boots, then took off across the sand, barely sinking on the surface before another bounding away again.

  
Nausea was churning at your stomach, and you busied yourself with the drone, taking it for a quick test flight before zooming it ahead. It had a mode for night vision, and you could see Cass dashing across the sand. You flew the little drone ahead, taking it over the compound's fence.

  
"Four guards at the main entrance," you whispered to her. "One in each guard tower, two on the ground. One in the left tower is asleep, other one is reading something. Take out the ground targets real quiet, and you should be able to climb up the towers."

  
You watched in rapt attention as one guard turned away for a moment to light a cigarette. The other man on the ground had his throat slit as Cass appeared from the shadows. His body had barely dropped before the pounced on the second guard, covering his mouth and snapping his neck.

  
Up the tower with the reading guard she went next. You moved the drone just in time to see her drag him from his chair, hand over his mouth. Her knife went through his chest and then she let his body drop over the tower side and onto the sand outside of the fence. She dropped down to the ground inside the fence, scampered up the ladder, and took out the sleeping guard.

  
"Okay, good job," you muttered, talking partially to yourself. Every nerve was on edge, and you wanted so badly to keep the drone right beside her, but flew it off instead to scout out the compound yard. "Search light's making sweeps from the central watch tower. Keep to the sides of the buildings and you should be good."

  
"I'll get rid of it," she whispered back. Her body disappeared back into the shadows as she moved along the buildings. The guard at the base of the tower got knifed, then she made her way up into the top. You saw a spray of blood stain the glass, then the light was shut off, plunging the compound into darkness.

  
"You've got company," you hissed. "Five agents heading your way. Get out of there!"

  
"Not a chance," she chuckled lowly. "Can't let them raise the alarm."

  
"Cass, no!" You zoomed your drone down, watching as the agents gathered around the dead body. A blur landed in the midst of them, taking down one man. Cass's knife gave off no light as she grappled with the guards. All you could see was the dark shape of it. That was her favorite knife, you realized with a small smile.

  
The Hydra agents, taken by surprise and not wanting to shoot each other, tried to take her down with their bare hands, but soon enough, the last one found himself on the ground, trying to block her blade as it came down towards his throat. You moved the drone away before the killing blow landed. You almost felt bad for the rest of the agents who would oppose her. They had no idea what was coming for them.

  
"How's the rest of the compound?" Cass spoke up, voice soft. You could hear her panting softly.

  
"Three more guards patrolling the compound. They won't be coming to your side, I don't think. There's a whole group of gunmen guarding the doors of the main building. I would be that's where they're holding the Avengers. Hydra doesn't normally post such heavy guard. At least 10 of them."

  
"Guess that's where I'll be going then. Move up to one of the guard towers. You have a clear path and it'll keep the drone feedback good and clear. I'll stay put until you get in position."

  
"Cassie, this is a bad idea," you warned her. "There's too many of them... If there's that many guarding the outside of the building, I can only imagine how many are inside."

  
"They have Steve," she growled. "They will not keep him a minute longer than necessary for me to get inside and tear their throats out. Where the hell is Thor? You can't tell me that they managed to capture a fuckin' god."

  
"He wasn't at the tower when the attack came. He's in Asgard." You made it up into the guard tower, thankful that there wasn't any blood in this one. "I wish we had his help."

  
"Yeah, me too," Cass sighed.

  
"Alright, I'm settled in the tower," you confirmed.

  
"Good deal. Watch my ass. I'm going to take care of the ones outside. All at once."

  
"How-?"

  
"Wait and see."

  
You rolled your eyes and moved the drone to survey the building where the agents were gathered, all rather heavily armed. You waited for a moment, nothing happening. Just as you were about to send the drone looking for Cass, you thought you saw a small object bounce into the group of men. One of them looked down, yelled, and they started to run, but the explosion that took place sent them flying.

  
Cass strolled in the scene as the dust settled, a smug swagger in her step. She bent down, snatched up one of the shotguns that had been dropped, and used one of the agent's pistols to finish off a guard who was still breathing.

  
"I love grenades," she sighed happily over the earpiece. "Alright, they know I'm here now. As soon as I get these doors open, locate our buddies. I'm gonna have to blast my way to them."

  
"Be careful, please," you begged as she kicked one door open, taking cover behind the corner of the building. Bullets riddled the air where she had been standing, and your heart jumped up into your throat.

  
"'Careful' is not in my vocabulary." She stepped inside the doorway, blasting away the two nearest guards and smashing in another man's face with the butt of her gun. "Hell yeah, black powder slugs in this baby! Field day, motherfuckers!"

  
"Hey, maybe if you yell 'fuck' really loudly, Steve will start hollering at you and we can track him that way," you suggested with a giggle.

  
"Great idea!" Cass laughed. "Holy shit!" She jumped back, shooting a guard in the torso as they sprang out at her from behind a corner.

  
"Three coming down the hall," you warned as you kept the drone out of the line of fire.

  
"On it!" She grabbed a riot shield that had been dropped to the floor, crouching low in order to let it protect her legs. She kept her back to the wall, watching as the three guards rounded the corner and came to a halt in front of her.

  
"Drop your weapon, now!" One of them was a little braver than the others and inched forwards, AR trained on her.

  
"How about...never?" Cass grinned at the guard. "Is never good for you? Cause that's all that's available on my schedule as of now."

  
"I said drop it!" He fired off a shot over her head, and got hit in the gut with a blast from her shotgun.

  
"And I said no! Bastard!" She hunkered down behind her shield and charged towards the other two agents, plowing them over as they started to open fire on her. She shot one agent in the face, his head splattering across the floor. The other guard got off a shot to her calf, and she used the riot shield to cave in his skull.

  
"Jesus," you moved the drone away from her. "Can't you find less messy ways to kill people?"

  
"Probably. But where's the fun in that?"

  
"I'll never get you," you sighed. "Okay, go straight down the main hall way. The big double doors at the end, that'll take you into the observation room. From there, you should be able to access the holding cells."

  
"Alright. How many between me and them?" She stayed put, reloading her shotgun as she waited for a count.

  
"Five. Give me a minute to get into the observation room and I can give you a head count there."

  
"Copy that. I'll clear out the hall." Cass shifted her shield into place and moved down the hall, staying close to the wall, her shotgun up and ready to fire. You piloted your drone back down the hall, not looking forwards to watching the guards get turned into a pulp.

  
There was a vent in the ceiling and you slipped the drone through the slats, manuvering it through the air ducts and then out through another vent that led into the observation room. Your heart dropped.

  
"Cass, there's fifteen heavily armed agents waiting for you. At least fifteen, maybe a few more. What are we going to do?" You moved the drone around the room, trying to find some way to help her.

  
"Think you can do something for me? In person, not with the drone?" The shotgun bellowed in the background.

  
"Maybe... What is it?"

  
"Is there another way to get into the holding cells?"

  
"Yeah. The observation room is the more direct way, but there's another door that I can take."

  
"Alright. Come in here and I'll tell you my idea. Don't wanna risk anyone overhearing me. Coast is clear for the moment."

  
You shut off the drone and scrambled down from the tower, making sure no one was around before sprinting for the building where Cass was. You tried to ignore the mangled bodies in your way as you carefully hopped over them. Cass looked worse when you found her. There was a new bullet wound in her leg, and her jaws were clenched in an effort to ignore the pain.

  
"Are you sure you can do this?" You started to take a look at her leg, but she pulled it away.

  
"I'm going to do it, (Y/N). I don't give a damn if I have to die, I'm going to get the Avengers out of here." She handed you her pistol.

  
"Cass, no..." You groaned. "I hate these things..."

  
"I know," she smiled softly. "But can you do this? For me? Just this once? Hydra doesn't give a damn if you don't want to hurt anyone. They'll kill you whether you're armed or not. It'll help if you can shoot first. Please?"

  
"Oh, fine." You took the pistol. "I'm never using one again after this."

  
"That's okay. Here, finger off the trigger till you're ready to shoot. This is an automatic, so there's a safety, but keeping away from the trigger is the best way to avoid shooting something you don't mean to."

  
"How many shots does it have?"

  
"Ten. You can kill ten people, but I have a feeling most of the soldiers in this compound are waiting up ahead for me." She gave you a broad, confident grin. "You can do this. Give me one minute, then get that door open. You can hack it."

  
You watched her move down the hall, bare feet noiseless, blood dripping behind her with each step she took. She readied her riot shield, then burst through the doors into the observation room. You ran to the door that led to the holding cells and started to work on hacking into it as gun shots and shouts filled the air. Finally, the door slid open, and you stepped inside, hands shaking as you lifted the pistol up.

  
Everything was silent in the holding cells, with the sounds of battle one room over as background noise. There was a clamor of footsteps, and you screamed as someone came charging towards you. The gun in your hand jumped, barking out sharply. Your ears rang as you watched the body of an agent slide backwards against the wall, leaving a bloody smear on the concrete.

  
"(Y/N)? Babe, is that you?"

  
"Tony?" You tore your gaze from the corpse, searched him and found the keys, then ran down the hall, eyes adjusting to the dim light. Tony was pressed against the bars of one cell, and he let out a sigh of relief when he saw you.

  
"Oh my God, baby... You have no idea how great you look right now." He smiled at you, reaching through the bars to touch your cheek. His face had bruises and cuts, his clothes were filthy, and he looked like he had been through hell and back, but damn, if he wasn't the best looking thing you had ever seen.

  
"Tony, what did they do to you?" You unlocked his cell door and he swept you into a hug, nuzzling his face into your hair.

  
"Tried to get information out of me. I declined the pleasant chat, so they tried to beat it out." He kissed your forehead. "How the hell did you get here? How did you get past the guards?"

  
"Cass came back, Tony." His face darkened at the mention of her name.

  
"She betrayed us, (Y/N)."

  
"No, Tony, no... She wouldn't do that. She was trying to stop it. Look, she saved my ass in that tower. She's cleared out every single agent so far, and now she's fighting the group of soldiers in the observation room. We have to get everyone else out and help her." You looked up at him. "Please."

  
"Fine. I suppose I can start forgiving her for helping you get us out of here." He took the cell keys. "They've got Wanda in a medically induced coma. Same with Bruce. They couldn't keep either of them restrained normally, so they drugged the hell out of them."

  
"I can help them. Some." You followed him as he let out Natasha, Clint, Pietro, and Sam. He opened up Wanda's cell, and you began working on getting her free from the machine they had her strapped into. "The drugs should wear off pretty soon. They don't last long in the system once there isn't a steady stream of them."

  
Pietro took his sister from you. "They were harnessing her energy somehow to keep Vision subdued. I think he should be alright now."

  
There was a clang of a door, and soon, the android in question had joined the group.

  
"I am now," he confirmed. "How is Wanda?" He gently caressed the unconscious woman's face.

  
"She'll be coming around soon," you reassured him. Everyone jumped as a cell door came flying off the hinges, and Bruce staggered out, the Hulk already taking over.

  
"Come on, Jolly Green Giant," Tony caught his attention. "We've got someone in need of our help!" He made sure the Hulk was following him as he ran for the observation room.

  
"Hey, wait." You looked up at Sam. "Where is Steve?"

  
"I don't know," Sam shook his head. "The only way they could keep him from fighting back is by continuously breaking his legs. His bones heal pretty fast, so they had to keep on doing it. At first, they kept saying that they had Cass in custody and that they would kill her if he didn't cooperate. When we found out the compound was bearing stormed, he said it had to be her and he started struggling."

  
"How did he know it was us?" You continued working on Wanda, trying to get her to wake up.

  
"Said it was just a feeling. I don't know where they took him."

  
"She's moving." You got to your feet. "Pietro, Vision, stay here with her. Nat, Sam, Clint, come with me." The three of you ran after Tony and Bruce, but arrived to find that the fight was already over. Tony was looting weapons for everyone while Bruce was trying to return to his normal self.

  
Cass was slumped against a table, hands resting on it. Blood was falling from her lips in slow, steady drops, and her sides heaved with effort. One knee gave way, and she struggled to stay on her good leg. You went to her and she looked up, amber eyes pained.

  
"Is everyone safe?"

  
"Well..." You swallowed, unsure of how to tell her about Steve.

  
"Where is Steve?" She looked around at the other Avengers as they joined you, Pietro and Vision straggling in with Wanda holding onto her brother for support.

  
"They carted him off when you started to storm the place," Natasha answered.

  
Cass's eyes widened, and she scanned the room for a second, looking for anything that would tell her where he might have gone. Her ears jumped, and she hobbled towards the double doors as footsteps pounded down the hall.

  
"Steve? Steve!" She shouldered through the doors in enough time to watch as five agents ran down the hall, Steve in tow as he tried to fight the sedatives they had given him.

  
"Cass...?" His head started to come up, and he tried to free himself from the restraints they had on him. "Cass! Cassidy! Over here!"

  
"Steve, no!" She took off after them, stumbling on her injured leg. The agents made it out one of the emergency exit doors that opened out to the runway. A plane was moving slowly, cargo ramp down as the Hydra agents ran for it. They made it inside, hauling Steve with them. The ramp began to close and the plane started to pick up speed.

  
"Cass, come back!" You chased after her, Natasha, Tony, Clint, and Sam behind you. "You're hurt, you can't do it!" You stopped, watching as she chased after the plane, pushing herself into a sprint.

  
"Uh, what exactly is her normal top speed?" Tony glanced over at you.

  
"She can usually get up around 50 or so, but she's overdoing it." There was nothing you could do as her legs became a blur. She got close to the tail of the plane and jumped at the last second, latching onto it with her claws.

  
"Pietro could catch it, but Hydra busted him up pretty good too. I don't have my suit, so I can't fly... I don't think we can pry Vision away from Wanda either." Tony raised his eyebrows. "Wow, those claws I helped make for her are really handy."

  
"She's gonna get herself killed!" You took an involuntary step forwards, eyes glued to the plane as Cass began to try and work her way up to the cockpit. The plane started to lift off the ground, and it tilted enough to the side to knock her off balance. Her claws scrabbled against the steel of the wing. She was dangling off the end of it, and the pilot drifted the plane towards a guard tower, knocking her off the wing.

  
Cass tumbled to the ground as the plane rose higher into the air. You ran as fast as you could, which had to look like a snail pace compared to what she had just done. She was lying motionless except for the shallow rise and fall of her chest. You knelt beside her. Tears had gathered up in her eyes, and one spilled over, rolling along her cheekbone.

  
"I couldn't save him," she whispered. "I failed..."

  
"You did everything you could," you tried to comfort her as you smoothed her hair down the best you could. "You saved everyone else."

  
"Wasn't enough," she squeezed her eyes shut, slowly rolling over onto her knees. She gasped in pain, then doubled over, sobbing as she hid her face in her hands. "It wasn't enough..."

  
"Natasha and Clint are getting us a jet," Tony whispered in your ear as he crouched down next to you. "As soon as I get access to technology, I'll track down Steve. I promise. We'll get him back." He stayed next to you, both of you silent as Cass continued to cry, tears falling to the dirt.


	20. Rest for the Weary

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After getting everyone settled in at Clint's farm, you begin your job of patching everyone back up. Tony is still trying to find Steve, but having no luck. You're worn out from the past few days, and Tony decides to take a break and help you relax.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just some nice, dumb fluff. You deserve fluff after all the mess that's happened.
> 
> Will we ever see poor Steve again?! The suspense!

"Thanks again for letting us hide out at your farm for a little while, Clint." You sat down at the kitchen island, feet and legs aching. You had spent an entire 24 hours running back and forth, caring for all the wounded Avengers. Tony, Pietro, Natasha, Clint, and Sam all had mostly minor cuts and bruises. Only a few wounds had required stitches. Sam had received a mild concussion. Wanda and Bruce were having slight complications from the drugs they had been pumped full of. Everyone had been partially dehydrated and absolutely exhausted. Vision was quite fine, besides being worried about Wanda.

Cass had been the hardest to handle. Her accumulated injuries from the Sahara compound, along with the older ones from the fight in Siberia had turned her into quite a mess. You had no sedatives to use, so you simply had Vision hold her down while you cut away the old, dying tissue to freshen the wound edges before stitching them closed. You had ruined a set of Clint's sheets and Vision got a bloody nose from the ordeal, but at least it was done.

  
"No problem," Clint shrugged as he sat beside you, sliding you a cup of coffee and pouring himself one as well. "It'll be good for us to lay low and rest up for a little while."

  
"Sorry for getting blood all over your sheets," you smiled wearily at him.

  
"Hey, it's no big deal," he chuckled. "You patched me up too." He took a drink of his coffee, then glanced over at you. "Is she alright? Cass, I mean."

  
You shook your head, "She's taking the loss of Steve really hard. She keeps blaming herself for it, saying she should've been faster or fought harder."

  
"Shit, none of us could've guessed that they would cart him off like that. It's not anyone's fault but Hydra's." Clint took anther gulp of his coffee. "Tony made any luck with trying to find him yet?"

  
"He's been trying ever since he got WiFi, but nothing yet." You sighed and rested your chin in your hand. "She's not letting anyone go in her room. She barely let me in to check on her, and it was only for a minute."

  
"Think she'll try and run?"

  
"No, I don't. She's upset and angry with herself for failing, but I think she'll stick around since I'm here."

  
"Why don't you get some rest?" Clint took your mug as you finished your coffee. "I can keep an eye on everyone for a while."

  
"What if someone needs something, though? Or if Cass goes apeshit? I need to stay on duty," you protested.

  
"Get your booty to bed before I haul you up there," he warned with a stern look. "I'm sure I can babysit some busted up superheroes for a few hours."

  
"Fine, you asked for it." You yawned as you got up out of your chair. "Thanks, Clint."

  
"No problem." He got up to put your cup in the sink and refill his own. "I want a sandwich..."

  
You left him digging through the fridge and went heading upstairs to the room Tony had called for himself. He was sitting cross-legged on the floor, his phone and parts of his helmet laid out and projecting several holographic images. He looked up as you entered.

  
"Hey, babe. You look all tuckered out."

  
"I am," you nodded as you sat down beside him and leaned against his shoulder. "Whatcha doin'?"

  
"Trying to find our patriotic friend." He gave your head a kiss, the continued studying the numbers, maps, and documents he had pulled up. "Still nothing. I gotta admit, I kind of miss him."

  
"I think we all do," you let your eyes drift shut. "He's a good man. I miss seeing Cass and him all cuddled up together like they used to do."

  
"She still taking all the blame?"

  
"Mhmm," you hummed. "I've tried to talk to her, but she won't listen to reason."

  
"I'm not sure if I'm ready to be buddy-buddy with her after she withheld information and left like she did, but I know she was doing what she felt was best and would keep you safe." Tony picked up the water bottle that was lying beside him and took a drink. "And she did risk her ass twice in order to save us. Third time at the tower for you."

  
"She always does manage to save my hide," you laughed softly. "I hope the others don't think she betrayed them. She's still not quite used to this whole team thing. It's hard accepting that you have something like a family after years of being thrown to the wolves. I still have to remind myself that you would all do anything for me."

  
"I understand that," Tony put an arm around you after shutting down the holograms and shoving everything aside. "Took me a bit to like the fact that I had some weird Franken-family. I kind of like it, though. Don't tell anyone I said that."

  
"Wouldn't dream of it." You opened up your eyes, looking up at him as he smiled at you. "I need a bath..."

  
"Come on, then." Tony got to his feet and helped you stand, scooping you into his arms. "I'll give you one."

  
"Tony, I can bathe myself," you giggled as he carried you into the bathroom that was attached to the room.

  
"Yeah, but I want to do it." He winked at you. "I got to missing you something awful when they had me all locked up."

  
"I hate to sound cliche, but I'm really tired-"

  
"I didn't say sex, did I?" He placed you on the bathroom counter and turned on the bathtub, monitoring the water temperature before letting it start to fill. "You're going to get a nice bath, then I'm going to put you to bed."

  
"The Tony Stark is about to get a woman naked and he doesn't want to bang her?" You teased with a grin but regretted it. That was kind of mean to say...

  
"Maybe he just wants to admire the gorgeous creature that he has been lucky enough to somehow talk into dating him," he murmured as he moved to stand between your legs, lips grazing your ear. "Maybe she deserves the entire world, but all he can do is try and make her comfortable when she's tired. Maybe she's so damn kind and loving to everyone, but he's an asshole and tries in vain to do whatever he can to make her feel good."

  
His praise made you turn red, and you pulled back to meet his gaze. "Well, maybe all she wants is to just spend time with him after thinking he was abducted and quite possibly dead." You kissed his lips softly as he began to carefully undress you.

  
"See how good I'm being?" He grinned as he worked your pants and panties off, dropping them to the floor with your bra and shirt. He picked you up again, lowering you gingerly into the warm water before shutting it off.

  
"I'm impressed," you rolled your eyes with a smile.

  
Tony poured body wash into the rag he had grabbed and began carefully lathering it all over your body, his shirt sleeves pushed up past his elbows. He started at your shoulders, moved to your arms, then worked his way down your body. He lifted up your legs, one at a time, rubbing the soapy rag in circles along your skin. By the time he started to wash your hair, you were half asleep, body relaxing under his hands.

  
He rinsed the soap from your hair and body, then lifted you out and placed you back on the counter, toweling you off as the drain noisily sucked down the water from the tub. After he had gotten you dry, he picked you up once again and carried you to the bed. He tugged back the covers and placed you on the clean sheets, leaning over your body and kissing your forehead before he started to pull off his own clothes.

  
You watched him through sleep-clouded eyes as he kicked off his jeans, leaving on his Iron Man-patterned boxers. You couldn't keep a smile from tugging at your lips. He crawled into bed beside you, pulling the covers up then wrapping his arms around your waist.

  
"God, I love you," he nuzzled your hair, hugging you close.

  
"Didn't think you were the religious type," you grumbled as you turned over to hide your face in his chest.

  
"Very funny. Now go to sleep."

  
"Yes, daddy," you yawned, eyes sliding shut.

  
"You can call me that later when I spank you for barging into a dangerous Hydra compound. Right now, just get some sleep."

  
You were too sleepy to smart off again, and the warmth of his body already had you dozing off. Tony waited for several long minutes, satisfying the need to know that you would still be there when he woke up.


	21. Come Home, Soldier, Come Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cass is still in mourning, and no one can find Steve or any clues as to his whereabouts. Sam can cook, it turns out, and everyone gets a surprise later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *cries forever because fluff and feels and dammit I love Steve*
> 
> WHO WANTS ANOTHER CHAPTER?! IT'LL PROBABLY JUST BE SMUT OR SOMETHING!

"Why do I have to wear this stupid thing?" Cass was sitting up in bed, her leg propped up on the bed while you checked the bullet hole on her thigh, freshened the bandages, then replaced the brace you had on the lower half of it.

  
"Because you pushed yourself too fast and tore your Achilles' tendon. That's why." You moved your attention to the dressing on her side, carefully pulling the medical tape and gauze away. The jagged line of stitches beneath was ugly, dried blood staining her skin. You carefully began cleaning it up.

  
"You should've just left me there to die," she growled, staring straight ahead with an angry look in her eyes.

  
"No. I won't ever do that." You wiped ointment across the suture line, then put fresh gauze over it. "You wouldn't leave me to die, would you?"

  
"Of course not."

  
"Then I wouldn't do it to you." The bandage on her arm came off next, and you checked the knife wound that you'd had to repair. So far, so good. It didn't look infected.

  
Cass sat in silence as you worked on her, not even offering so much as a wine as you cleaned and rewrapped her various injuries. When you finally looked up to check the cuts on her face, you noticed a tear sliding down her cheek.

  
"Do you think Wanda has the ability to erase memories?" Her eyes fell, studying her hands in her lap.

  
"Maybe," you shrugged. "I'm not sure, but we could ask. Why?"

  
"Because...I want her to wipe my mind. I want to forget."

  
"No..." You put your hand on her shoulder. "No, you don't... The memories are a good thing, even if they hurt right now."

  
"I don't want them, dammit!" She snarled, eyes flaring as more tears spilled from them. She flopped down on her side, curling her legs up towards her chest as the tears continued to fall. You looked down at her bare body for a moment, studying the old scars on her back, the bruises on her skin.

  
"I'll be back to check on you later. Alright?" When she didn't answer, you left the room, quietly shutting the door behind you. Sam was waiting in the hall, a plate in his hands.

  
"So...I take it she isn't going to want some of the lasagna I made?" He held up the plate a bit higher, putting the food on display.

  
"I'm afraid not, Sam." You smiled apologetically at him. "It looks good, though. I'll take it if you don't mind. I didn't know you could cook."

  
"Eh, I do every now and then," he shrugged, then handed you the plate. "There's garlic bread in the kitchen. Made it all myself."

  
"I'm impressed." You walked down the stairs with him, carrying your food along with you.

  
"I don't know about the rest of the team, but I know I'm not mad at her," he confided as the two of you went into the kitchen where the rest of the Avengers were eating. "If she's worried about that...maybe that would make her feel better to know?"

  
"It's a little of that, I think," you nodded as you sat next to Tony. "And losing Steve...it's hitting her hard."

  
"Hell, I miss him too," Sam frowned. "I'd even let him pass me when we go running without getting annoyed."

  
"I miss him reminding everyone to watch their language," Wanda smiled softly.

  
"I miss him picking on Tony," Pietro agreed as he filled his plate for the second time.

  
"Remember that time I stole his shield and used it to play ultimate frisbee with Sam and Pietro?" Clint laughed. "That was fun..."

  
"Oh, and when Cass used it to surf down the steps of the Smithsonian dressed as Uncle Sam and waving an America flag while I used my suit to blast the theme song from Team America?" Tony snickered. "Oh, he got so pissed when he saw that on the news. Lectured us about proper public image and all that bullshit. It was great."

  
"I remember that," Bruce chuckled. "We watched the live news report as that was happening. You should've seen the look on his face."

  
"Captain Rogers was rather upset with that display," Vision mused with a smile.

  
"We all miss him," Natasha sighed. "I've tried my contacts too. No luck finding him."

  
"What are we going to do...?" You ate slowly, trying to distract yourself from the overall feeling of helplessness. "He's part of the team...a big part. We need him back."

  
"And Cass is going to mourn herself to death if we don't find him," Clint added. "I don't know about the rest of you guys, but she's part of the team too. She did what she thought was best. She tried to stop Hydra from storming the tower, and when that failed, she kicked their asses and helped get us out of there."

  
"I agree," Pietro nodded. "I like her."

  
"Me too," Wanda agreed. "She...she isn't afraid of me like a lot of people are. She treats me like I'm a normal person."

  
"I said some things to her that I probably shouldn't have," Natasha admitted as she took her dishes to the sink. "I apologized, but I'm not sure if I made it clear that I meant it. She belongs on this team. We've all made mistakes. She owned up to hers and did everything she could to fix them too."

  
"She hasn't eaten in the three weeks we've been here, so we might get a chance to make her feel more welcome if something doesn't change soon," Vision pointed out.

  
"I've been leaving water by her door at night," Tony mumbled quietly. "Figured it's better than nothing at all... I get the empty cup early in the morning."

  
Everyone looked up as someone knocked on the door. Clint got up, wiping his mouth with his napkin.

  
"I'll get it." He moved to the front door. Natasha's hand fell to her lap and you knew she was reaching for her gun in case it was needed. All of you could see the front door, and you kept your eyes trained on it.

  
Clint opened the door and his jaw dropped. "Steve...?"

  
Steve gave him a weary smile, his suit torn and stained, blood on his face, and his shield held limply, but he was alive.

  
"Hey... Hope I'm not too late to join the party."

  
"Get your ass in here!" Tony ran for the door, pulling Steve inside and ushering him to the living room where he shoved him to the couch. "Here, sit down."

  
"Here, you probably need this." You brought Steve a bottle of water, examining his face as he pulled his cowl off. "You don't look too bad... Are you hurt anywhere else?"

  
"A little," he shrugged before taking a long drink. "I heal fast, though. Give me a bit."

  
"There's someone who'll want to see you." Wanda hurried up the stairs, Pietro right behind her.

  
"Is everyone else alright?" Steve looked around as the team gathered into the living room.

  
"We're fine, thanks to good Doctor (Y/N) here and Cass," Bruce answered. "They got us all out."

  
"(Y/N) has been doctoring everyone," Natasha laughed. "We were all pretty banged up. Well, except for Vision. Bruce wasn't too bad off either. He and Wanda needed some rest from the drugs they kept them sedated with, but that was about it."

  
"And Cass...?" Steve looked at you, eyes hopeful.

  
"Why don't you ask her yourself?" You motioned up at the stairway.

  
"Get off me, dammit! I don't want to wear clothes, let me stay in my room! For fuck's sake, Pietro, if you don't quit pulling on me, I swear I'll-" Cass stopped mid-rant, staring in shock at Steve.

  
"Oh my God..." Steve got to his feet, moving towards her. "Are you alright? What happened?"

  
"I was coming to get you," she smiled softly at him. "A few people got in my way."

  
Steve met her halfway on the stairs and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close. "Don't ever, ever, _ever_ do that again..."

  
"What, come for you? Because I'm hoping I will in a few weeks after I get to feeling better." She grinned up at him as he blushed. "I'm sorry, by the way. For saying the things I did. And I'm sorry I couldn't get to you fast enough."

  
"You don't have to apologize. I watched some of what you did. It was incredible." Steve picked her up and carried her back to the couch, sitting down with her in his lap. He didn't even hesitate as he cupped her cheek with his hand and pulled her in for a long, soft kiss. Tony and the boys cheered, and you swatted at his arm.

  
"Shut up, jackass," Cass glared playfully at Tony, then nuzzled her head against Steve's jaw. Everyone drifted out of the living room, letting them have a moment alone. You paused in the doorway, grinning as you listened. There was a soft, rusty purr starting up again.

  
"Why don't we go upstairs?" Tony whispered in your ear as he came up behind you. "I can make you purr too."

  
You rolled your eyes. "Dammit, you had to ruin the moment!"


	22. The New Path

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony finally gets to throw his big party. After Cass is made to be the singer for the night (after an incident with the original singer), things get a little flirty between you and Tony. He talks you into having your own party of two.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow... I am going to throw myself away now. Enjoy this last chapter (and foreshadowing) while I crawl back in the dumpster!
> 
> ALSO! The song is If I Didn't Know Better by the Civil Wars. Check it out if you want. (That is not an option, do it! I love that song!)

"This was actually a great idea!" You called over the noise as Tony swept you across the dance floor.

  
"All my ideas are wonderful," Tony grinned down at you. "I figured you'd know that by now."

  
"Really? Because I thought that urging Cass to beat up the lady who was supposed to be our singer tonight was a terrible idea."

  
"I thought that was hilarious," he chuckled. "That chick asked for it. She shouldn't have been hitting on Steve."

  
"I didn't see everything," you admitted as the music faded away and the two of you went to get more drinks. "What all happened?"

  
"Gal kept making advances towards good ole' Rogers. He's too polite to tell her to piss off, but he was trying to edge away. Chick stuck a hand down his pants, and our favorite cat woman bashed her face into the bar, then proceeded to give her a trouncing," Tony cackled with glee at the memory.

  
"Well, she never has had any tolerance for sexual harassment." You took the martini that was handed to you, Tony accepting another glass of scotch while you rested at the bar for a moment. "I guess I can forgive the two of you hoodlums just this once."

  
"I didn't know Cass could sing like that." Tony slipped his arm around you, sipping his drink. "Glad I could talk her into filling in the spot since I was rather singerless after that little scrap."

  
"She's opened up a lot lately. I'm proud of her." You looked up at him and kissed his jaw. "I'm proud of you too."

  
"Why?"

  
"Do I need a reason?"

  
He smiled down at you and kissed your cheek. "I suppose not, no. Think I could talk you into sneaking away early? We can have our own little party if you know what I mean."

  
"We'll see," you winked.

  
"Mr. Wislon, come up here, will you? I need some help with this next song." Cass beckoned at him. All eyes went to Sam who was currently sitting with several attractive young women, telling them some war stories that had them all oohing over his exploits.

  
Sam got up and moved to the temporary stage, stepping up onto it as he leaned close to her ear. "I think I can help. Is it the one we practiced?"

  
"Yep, it is," Cass nodded.

  
"Alright! I've been working on my part more," he grinned.

  
Cass's amber cat eyes swept over the audience. "Something a little slower, now, ladies and gentlemen. You know, to help set the mood." Her voice was a silky purr. Steve was standing off to the side, watching her very closely. He blushed when she winked at him.

  
Slow guitar music started, and Tony began pulling you towards the dance floor once again.

  
"One more dance, baby," he whispered in your ear as Cass's voice, smooth and seductive, started to sing once again.

  
C: _"If I didn't know better, I'd hang my hat right there._  
_If I didn't know better, I'd follow you up the stairs._  
_Stop saying those sweet things you know I like to hear._  
_The horn's blowing louder, the bailiff's drawing near."_

  
Tony held you close against his body, moving slowly with you to the beat. His eyes had turned into a dark, molten chocolate, and his goatee tickled the shell of your ear as he bent his lips close. "How about it, baby? Wanna skip out and play hooky for the rest of the party after this?"

  
"Tony, you're the host," you hissed back, face growing warm as he let go of your hands, his fingers moving down to circle your hips through your dress. His hands slid up and down your sides and back, and he was well on his way to convincing you to sneak off with him.

  
C: " _Why do I keep drinking,_  
_Wasting my time on you?_  
_If I didn't know better..._  
_But dammit, I do."_

  
Cass stepped back from the microphone, letting Sam have it. He licked his lips, took a quick breath to steel himself, and damn near blew you away.

  
S: _"There's a hole in what you're saying,_  
_I can plainly see._  
_You've a lover that's waiting,_  
_But baby you're right here with_ me."  
  
C: _"Oh, you might as well be the devil,_  
_Keeping me out past three..."_

  
S: _"Well, you're the one with that apple,_  
_So baby you can't blame me._  
_Oh,_ _why don't you keep drinking?_  
_Give me one night with you."_

  
C: _"If I didn't know better..._  
_But dammit, I do..._  
_Mmm, baby, I do..."_

  
S: _"Baby, you're right here with_ me..."

  
C: _"Sweet daddy, you know I do..."_

  
"Fuck me, I didn't know Sam could do that!" You stared at him in amazement, jaw agape. "Holy hell, how talented can these people be?"

  
"Honeybee, I've been trying to fuck you for the past hour, but you won't blow this popsicle stand with me." Tony gave your ass a squeeze. "Say, Steve's looking a little jealous that Sam was up there with his gal." He snickered, then caught your hand, pulling you through the crowd of people. "Come on, baby, please?"

  
"Alright," you giggled. "Let's go!"

  
The two of you went sneaking out of the party, down the hall, and then skittered towards the elevator, past Pietro who was making out with some girl, past Wanda who had Vision backed into a corner, past Thor who was making out with Mjolnir (he had brought his own booze), and past Bruce who was sneaking back to the lab with a cup of coffee.

  
Tony's hands were all over you as soon as the elevator doors shut, pulling your dress up to your hips, his fingers smoothing over your thighs. Someone cleared their throat and the both of you froze. You smacked his hands away and pushed your dress down.

  
Natasha arched an eyebrow up. "You guys should really learn to check the elevator before you bone in it." It stopped and she got out before the doors slid closed and it started going up again.

  
"Oops." You giggled, then shrugged. Tony grinned sheepishly, keeping his hands to himself for the remainder of the ride. When the elevator stopped, you ran down the hall, heels clicking on the tile. Tony chased after you, the two of you sliding into his room.

  
You turned around, caught him by his tie, and pulled him along as you walked backwards, heading for his desk.

  
"I think I like where this is going," he smirked, following you obediently.

  
"I know you'll like where I'll be going," you teased as you turned him around and pushed him up against his desk.

  
"And where might that be?" His eyes were already smoldering with desire, and he slipped the straps of your dress off of your shoulders.

  
"Down."

  
Tony watched as you sank to your knees, fingers fumbling at the buckle of his belt until you got it undone. You unbuttoned his pants, tugged down the zipper, and pulled them down, taking his briefs with them. Your lips painted a trail of sloppy kisses up his thigh, and you swept your tongue across the firm plane of muscle on his lower abdomen, tracing over the trail of dark hair that led to his cock.

  
You stopped just shy of his shaft, looking up at him with a gleam in his eye as you began kissing and nipping along his inner thighs.

  
"I thought your friend was supposed to be the devious one," he groaned, loosening his suit jacket and white shirt. His tie hung loosely around his bare neck; you were quite pleased that he had left it on.

  
"Maybe she's rubbing off on me," you purred, batting your lashes up at him as you stroked the head of his cock with your fingertip.

  
"I'm not sure if I'm turned on or scared by that," Tony chuckled breathlessly as he hardened underneath your hand.

  
"Both might not be bad." You lowered your head, replacing your fingers with your tongue, flattening it as you licked slowly up his shaft. Up and down you worked your tongue, covering every single bit of him with long licks. Your lips closed around the head, and you bobbed back and forth in short, shallow movements.

  
"Oh, fuck, baby..." Tony sighed, relaxing against the desk, legs spread out to brace himself as he tangled one hand in your hair, messing up the elegant style it had been in.

  
You glanced up at him, watching his lips part, his eyes fluttering shut in bliss. You sped up the motion of your head, going down further along his length. You stroked the underside of his cock, fingers teasing the parts that weren't in your mouth. He moaned loudly, fingers tightening in your hair.

  
"Hang on..." He straightened up on his legs, putting his other hand on your head as well, pulling you almost all the way off of him and tilting your head. "Open your mouth, (Y/N). Real wide."

  
You did as instructed, and he thrusted slowly inside your mouth and down into your throat. You instinctively swallowed around him, and he shuddered. You held onto his thighs, gripping them while he continued fucking your mouth and throat, leaning over you. His tie brushed over your head, and his hands tightened their grip on you.

  
"S-start sucking again, baby," he ordered with a grunt. Once again, you obeyed, and he began thrusting into your mouth a bit faster, pulling back against the suction you were creating with your mouth before pushing back in. He came as his cock entered your throat. It startled you, and you choked, gagging as he pulled out of your mouth, cum stringing from your lips. Some of it fell onto your chest.

  
"T-Tony, a little warning next time," you coughed, wiping at your chin.

  
"Shit, I'm sorry..." He pulled you up to your feet and hugged you to his chest, wiping up the cum on your chest and smearing it across your lips. You licked it off instantly, and a low growl rumbled in his chest. "You're so fuckin' hot..."

  
"Aren't you going to give me a little something as pay back?" You batted your lashes and pressed up against him, hiking up your dress and straddling one of his thighs, rubbing your crotch teasingly along his skin.

  
"Actually... I thought I would have some friends help out..." He wiggled his eyebrows.

  
"Friends? You don't mean Rhodes or Clint, do you...?" You stared at him in partial horror. You didn't think you'd want anyone else seeing you like this.

  
"No, no," he laughed. "Something a little different...a little cooler."

  
You didn't know when he had called his suit, but it was right there beside you. With a quick command from Tony, two more of his suits came into the room. One suit caught your arms, the other caught your legs, and they lifted you up onto the desk, knocking off most of the objects that were on it.

  
"Tony...?" You looked at the three suits of armor, then at him. "What are you doing?"

  
"It was an idea," he shrugged. "If you want me to stop, I'll call them off, but for now... Mind just trying it? Only for a minute?"

  
"A-alright..." You agreed with a slow nod. Maybe it was the alcohol in your system, or perhaps it was the fact that the armor was so strong that you couldn't even budge against it. Your legs were spread out. The third suit of armor, Tony's Mark VII, pushed your dress up. You arched up your hips, letting the fabric bunch up beneath you. One metal finger hooked under the edge of your panties, and they were gone with a quick yank.

  
"Hey," Tony chided. "Gentle."

  
The armor slid a cold hand up your thigh. You shivered, feeling a wet spot starting to form beneath you on the desk. One cool finger pressed into your folds. You gasped at the sensation of the chilled metal contrasting with the heat of your arousal.

  
"Another one," Tony ordered. "Go slow." He watched hungrily as his armor obediently pushed two fingers inside of you. In and out they went, warming up with each moment that was spent inside you. Of course, being Tony's creation, it had to know exactly where to touch to make you squirm.

  
"Two more," Tony murmured, feeling himself getting hard once more as he watched your pussy being stretched around the hand of his armor. He threw off his shirt and coat, toeing off his dress shoes and pulling away his socks, eyes not leaving you as Mark VII continued to finger you.

  
You could feel a roll of pleasure begin twisting into a coil, and you tried to pull your legs free in an effort to press your thighs together against the machine's hand, but the other suit of armor had your legs firmly spread apart while Mark VII bent over you, all four fingers rubbing gently against your g-spot. Your clit throbbed, and you cried out as you tried to buck your hips, wanting more.

  
"H-how the hell- do these robots know what to do?!" You squealed as you arched up your back, letting the suit of armor manning your legs spread them wider.

  
"Darling," Tony crooned as he ruffled your hair. "Who do you think is controlling them?"

  
You moaned loudly, feeling yourself reach your climax. It felt like it went on for hours, even though it was just a few seconds. The armor withdrew its hand, wet with your cum.

  
"Alright, boys, party's over for you three." Tony moved closer as all three suits of armor quickly left, returning to his work room. "Need a minute, honeybun?"

  
You nodded, reaching up to catch the end of the tie he was still wearing. You pulled him down, kissing him breathlessly. Tony climbed on top of you, not breaking the kiss as he began caressing your breasts with one hand.

  
"Okay," you panted, bucking your hips against his. "Fuck me, you stupid, sexy genius..."

  
"That made no sense," he laughed. "Except the 'fuck me' part. I thought you needed a minute."

  
"I had a minute," you shot back. "Exactly sixty seconds. I counted. Bend me over this desk, Stark, or so help me, I'll-"

  
In a flash, he was off of you and had you bent over his desk, hand coming down on your ass in a slap. You moaned, and he shoved your head down against the wood.

  
"I like it when you get a little fiesty," he chuckled. You felt his cock slide into you, and you whimpered in response. He caught both of your wrists in one hand, the other holding onto your shoulder as he set a rather quick pace.

  
You still were wound up from the previous orgasm, and it wasn't long before Tony had you moaning against the wood of his desk, back trying to arch up in response. He kept you firmly pushed down, cock thrusting steadily into you. The wet, filthy sound of flesh on flesh made you want to blush, but it was nothing when you considered that you had let a robot finger fuck you.

  
"Tony... Oh, God!" You cried out his name as you came, feeling him cum on your ass and thighs as he pulled out of you. With one arm around your waist, he managed to haul you over to his bed, dragging you down with him. The two of you lay draped across the covers, naked and sweaty and panting.

  
Tony grinned at you. "Told you this party would be much more fun."

  
"I think your 'friends' might have been my favorite part, personally," you teased with a breathless giggle.

  
"If I catch you trying to fuck my suits, I'm going to be very jealous and maybe heartbroken," he chuckled, then kissed you. "Get some rest... We're going to have to deal with hungover Avengers tomorrow..."

  
It didn't take you long to shut your eyes and drift off, listening to the soft humming of the arc reactor. Tony smoothed your hair from your face. It seemed like so long ago that you had come to live in the tower. You had chosen a different path, then. A different way of life. He glanced over at his nightstand, thinking about the ring that was hidden inside.

  
His heart thudded at the idea, and he hoped that you'd agree to take a new path once again. With him.


End file.
